Tigers upend first-place Royals

BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI

Heading into this weekend’s midget espoir showcase hockey tournament in Rivière de Loup, knowledgeable observers have to consider the Webster Academy/Lac St. Louis Royals as one of the favourites.

The five-day event, which begins today, is organized by Hockey Quebec. It will involve 29 teams not only going for gold, but also showing their individual talents in front of Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and United States prep school scouts.

The reason the Royals are one of the teams to beat is because at 16-3-1 and in first place in the Montréal Metropolitan Hockey League’s espoir division, the Pointe Claire-based club has been enjoying a phenomenal season so far. One that saw them ranked No. 1 in the province heading into last weekend’s action.

However, if the Royals decide to play like they did on Saturday afternoon at Jacques Lemaire Arena in LaSalle against rival Lac St. Louis Tigers, the tournament could wind up being a major disappointment.

For some reason, they came out flat against a determined and hard-working Tigers squad, who deserve every bit of credit for putting together a 5-2 victory. With the win, the Tigers, who also registered a 6-2 victory over the Eastern Stars on Sunday afternoon at the Sportplexe 4 Glaces in Pierrefonds, now head into the Rivière de Loup tournament not only as a team on the rise, but worthy of wary notice — and respect — from all opponents.

“Our boys played great today,� said Tigers head coach Stewart McCarthey, a veteran of many years of coaching at all levels in Lac St. Louis and espoir. “I was a little worried in the third period when they scored their two goals, but we held on. Some of our guys were a little tired, having recently participated in a tournament for their high-school team. But this was a special game, not only for the region, but for the league and there was no doubt they would play today.�

One of those was Alex Stephenson, a stocky offensive fireplug who is leading the league in scoring this year. Stephenson was almost unstoppable, scoring two goals, setting up another and missing a couple of other opportunities to lead the Tigers. Forward Kyle Armstrong was the only shining light on the Royals, working hard all game while scoring a pair of goals.

“We felt confident coming into this game,� said Stephenson, who has enjoyed a couple of call-ups this season with the midget AAA Lac St. Louis Lions. “We had just beaten Gatineau coming into the game, and they are the second-place team in the league, so we weren’t intimidated by the Royals at all.�

The Tigers jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a little over five minutes gone in the first period on a Matt Job power-play marker, and soon after, the Royals lost one of their better players, Ken Matheson, who was ejected for hitting from behind. They then lost Ryan Collier to an injury and things went from bad to worse. Stephenson was allowed to roam freely, scoring two in the second to make it 3-0 before Armstrong took matters in his own hands, scoring two consecutive goals in the third to cut the lead to one.

However, forward Simon Ghilarducci made it 4-2 Tigers with a little over a minute left in the game converting a wonderful pass from Stephenson to end any hopes of a Royals comeback.

“We didn’t have any fire out there,� said an utterly disgusted Lacombe, a former NHL player for the Oakland Seals, Buffalo Sabres and Quebec Nordiques. “We’re in first place, and it’s a nice place to be. But you have to work for a full game to stay there because everyone is going to want a piece of us, and it’s going to be like that for the rest of the season. You have to reach down. Some of our guys didn’t today.�