Lions back on track

The Dollard des Ormeaux-based Quebec Midget AAA Hockey League Lac St. Louis Lions seem to have righted its ship, on course for a strong finish to the regular season.

Head coach Danny Dupont’s troops find themselves riding on the wave of a four-game unbeaten streak, with the latest two coming last weekend at the Dollard Civic Centre. The Lions defeated the Montréal Canadiens AAA squad 6-4 on Friday night and the first-place Gatineau Intrépide 4-2 on Saturday night. The Lions jumped out to a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period against the AAA Canadiens, only to allow the visitors to tie the game at the end of the second frame before going ahead to stay in the third. Twenty-four hours later against its heated rival the Intrépid, the Lions rode the back of newly acquired goaltender Lino Chimienti, who registered 40 saves for a huge win. The two victories put the Lion, who play host to Séminaire Saint-François this Friday night and Levis on Saturday night (both games start at 7:30) in seventh place in the CCM Division with 34 points, only two behind Amos. The Lions plan to honour defenceman Benjamin Masella on Saturday night prior to the start of its game. Masella recently received a bursary from the NHL Montreal Canadiens, recognizing his strong athletic abilities combined with scholastic achievements.

In what had to be considered nothing less than an interesting and unique affair, The Ile-Bizard-based midget espoir Lac St. Louis Tigers hopped on the bus and travelled downtown to the hallowed campus of McGill University recently. In a game that took place on Jan. 21, head coach Sam Ghilarducci’s boys found themselves up against defending Canadian Interuniversity Sports women’s hockey champions McGill Martlets at McConnell Arena. When all was said and done, the Martlets emerged with a 6-3 victory.

“It was a great game,” said Tigers general manager Chris Sides. “Our boys learned a little lesson of what it means to be a champion.”

An interesting sidelight to the game saw former Tigers head coach Stewart McCarthey, a Pierrefonds resident, patrolling behind the Martlets bench as an assistant to head coach Peter Smith.

Kirkland native Louis Leblanc, ranked 10th in a recently released TSN poll concerning the top prospects for this summer’s NHL entry draft in Montreal, will participate in tonight’s United States Junior Hockey League All-Star Game in Sioux Falls N.D. Leblanc, currently playing for the Omaha Lancers of the USJHL, spent two years with the midget AAA Lac St. Louis Lions and was a member of Canada's gold medal-winning under-18 squad at the Ivan Hlinka Tournament in the Czech Republic. He is expected to enroll at Harvard University next fall.