Hungry Lions still in the playoff hunt

BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI

Take a look at the Lac St. Louis Lions situation these days, and it truly is a good news bad news scenario.

The good news is for the first time in 15 years, the Dollard des Ormeaux-based club has advanced to the third round of the Quebec Midget AAA Hockey League post season.

The bad news however is it’s currently trails 2-0 in games in its best-of-seven semifinal against the Laurentides Vikings. The Lions lost 8-5 in Rosemère on Sunday night in the series opener before dropping a 5-4 decision Monday night at the Dollard Civic Centre. Game three takes place tonight in Rosemère with game four scheduled for Friday night at the Civic Centre at 7:30.

Head coach Danny Dupont’s troops earned the right to be playing this late in the year by ousting their playoff nemesis, the Collège Charles-Lemoyne Riverains, four games to three in a best-of-seven division semifinal. In that series, the Lions took a 3-2 lead in games, but were stonewalled by Riverains goaltender Gabriel Girard in game six last Wednesday night. Girard, who was tremendous throughout the series, stopped 15 shots in the first period alone en route to backstopping the Riverains to a 3-2 victory. That set up game seven two nights later in Ste. Catherine. With history on the Riverains’ side - it was 6-0 in seventh games heading in having won 12 out of 19 times in that situation - the Lions finally broke that trend, winning 4-3. Forward Michael Hunter scoring the eventual winner on a short-handed effort in the third period. It was the first time in 15 years the Lions had captured a game seven.

“Our guys never quit against the Riverains in a series that was really close throughout,” said Dupont. “As far as the current series goes, we felt heading in we could compete with the Vikings and we still do.”