Big overtime win for Leopards

BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI

The Dollard des Ormeaux Civic Centre was a busy place last weekend with the Dollard novice puck tourney and a couple of huge midget AAA playoff hockey games taking place.

Squeezed in among all the hoopla though, was a pair of tremendous Lac St. Louis Hockey Association bantam A regional semifinal contests on Saturday afternoon. Both involved area clubs, both were cliffhangers and both went into overtime. The West Island Kings lost 2-1 to the Montreal West Knights in the first game while the Lakeshore Leopards came out on top by an identical 2-1 count over the Hudson/Rigaud/St. Lazare (HRS) Huskies in the other. As a result, the Leopards and Knights will clash this Saturday at 11:45 a.m. at the Civic Centre with the prestigious Lac St. Louis regional title on the line.

Depending on which side of the coin one sat on, the storyline on the Leopards / Huskies affair had two vastly different angles. From a Leopards perspective, it was first and foremost, a case of pure joy, but also of literally pulling out a victory from the jaws of defeat. From the Huskies point of view, it was one of the most disappointing and disheartening ways to lose a hockey game.

That’s because with 31 seconds left in regulation time, and the Huskies nursing a

1-0 lead and seemingly en route to a date with the Knights, Marc Glaude beat a partially screened goaltender Patrick Pilon with a hard snap shot from the point to tie the game at 1-1. The Panthers had pulled goaltender Michael-Evan Farrugia for the extra attacker. Then, with a little over five minutes left in overtime, Griffin Burke swept down the right side past a defender and beat Pilon cleanly with a beautiful shot up high to stick a final dagger into the Huskies’ hearts and allow his team to live another day.

“I went by the defenceman because I had more speed than him,” said Burke. “The move I used on him though, was the same move used by Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings, my favourite player. Then, when I got to the net, I saw the hole upstairs and the puck went in. You know, we found this win in ourselves.”

The Huskies dominated the first period, with Sébastien Créte giving them a 1-0 advantage with a little over a minute left to play. The second frame was pretty even while he third period — and the overtime — was all Leopards. It was in the final period though, when the Huskies showed they were well schooled on the fundamentals of hockey, or more importantly, on how to protect a lead. However, as any knowledgeable hockey observer will tell you, trying to preserve a one-goal advantage is simply asking for trouble.

“What can you say,” said an obviously disappointed Huskies head coach Sylvain Riel. “That’s hockey I guess. Still, we won our regular season and playoff round, so it was a good year overall. We also still have a tournament left to play, so the boys still have something to look forward to.” ?