Lions lose to Laval/Montreal

By Mark Lidbetter, September 26th, 2012

The Lac St. Louis Lions nomadic start to the Midget AAA season came to a close Friday night as the Lac pack dropped a 7-3 decision to the Laval/Montreal Rousseau Royals at St. Laurent's Ray Bourque arena. With the work finally finished at the Dollard Civic Centre the lions will now get to play official home games, “as a matter of fact we are heading their now to load up our rooms,” Lions head coach Jon Goyens said. “It will be good for the team to be able to settle into their own place.”
The Rousseau Royals jumped out to a quick two goal lead scoring twice in a 36 second span at 3:38 and 4:14 of the opening frame. Julien Nantel, a draftee of Rouyn Noranda, tallied the opening marker on a power play by Laval/Montreal, his first of a quartet of goals on the night to pace the Royals to the victory. “It is the intensity of his work that is impressive,” said Royal head coach André Wilsey
On the ensuing face-off, the Royals took to the Lions' zone with Marc-Antoine Germain besting LSL netminder James Povall for the two goal cushion.
With 65 ticks left in the first Kevin Domingue one-timed a pass from Massimo Carozza to make it a 3-0 contest.
Laval/Montreal picked-up where they left off as play opened in the second with Nantel making it 4-0 one-minute from the drop of the puck.
The Lions did not fold as the squad looked to solve the puzzle that was Royals goalie Alexandre Duckett. Maxime Fortier converted a pass from Daniel Sarracco at 12:31 to spoil Duckett's shutout bid.
“The players are still young and can lose focus,” coach Wilsey said. “Bad penalties can change the game and give the momentum to Lac St. Louis.”
That goal put some more jump in the Lions' game and on a power play opportunity late in the second Vincent Watt got another goal back for the Lions to make it a 4-2 contest.
A breakdown in the Lac St. Louis zone on a shorthanded situation allowed Nantel to author an unassisted tally for his second power play goal and completed the hat trick for the talented forward with a mere 13 seconds left in the second period
The Lions showed heart as they made it 5-3 before the third was two minutes old on Evan Korizis' score. Nantel added his fourth of the match at 5:11 to put the Royals ahead 6-3 and with the Lions pressing late in the game Massimo Carozza closed out the scoring for the 7-3 final.
“We showed moments of strong character, especially for early in the season,” coach Goyens said. “We also showed moments of lack of character with a lack of discipline not just encompassing penalties but sticking to the game plan and keeping it simple.”