NCJHL Lions in nagging injury freefall . . . .

Lions flag bearers Tyson Duval & Bridger Baldwin check the opposition at Saturday's game in Morrisburg . . .

Morrisburg - Injuries to key defensive and forward positions saw Morrisburg’s Junior Lions plummet to the bottom end of regular season standings over the weekend. On Saturday evening at home the locals dropped a 4-1 decision to the winless (until that game) South Grenville Rangers. Travelling to Gatineau on Sunday afternoon Morrisburg’s short-handed bench in the National Capital Junior Hockey League were bowled over by the high scoring, free-wheeling, 1st-place Hull Volant in a 7-0 decision.

        The losses leave the Lions with a single win and four losses for 9th-place after their opening five games of the 2024-25 regular season. South Grenville moved to 8th-place with four losses and a single win and St-Isidore’s Eagles are in 10th spot with a single win and five losses. The Lions are holding 6th place in the 'goals for' category with 14 markers while the missing defence shows in the team's goals against record, the highest in the 10-team league, at 29 over six games. Morrisburg currently is in 5th-place in the 5-team A Division of the NCJHL standings.

"Against South Grenville we definitely had our chances," admitted Lion's Head Coach Jamie Smith, "If we would’ve capitalized on  our chances,  we would’ve won. No puck luck!!"

        Smith said, "In Gatineau Sunday, we continued to suffer from a short bench," continuing he admitted, "We did what we could considering the circumstances! This team (the Volant) could be comfortable playing in a good Junior B League." 

"I give credit to our players," said the Lion's Head Coach,  Keeping their cool and not suffering too many penalties this weekend means we are remaining positive! As always, we're looking forward to the coming weekend!!"

Saturday, Oct. 5th - On Saturday evening at Morrisburg Arena the Lions appeared to be holding the edge in possession time through the opening two periods in spite of falling behind on a 2-1 score after 40-minutes.  The Ranger's Noah Perry had opened the game scoring from Ben Pilon and Nic Campeau on a power-play with just 26-seconds remaining in the first period, beating the Lion's netminder Nick Lyon on a hard, rising shot. 

       The Rangers went up 2-1 when Pilon combined with Sam Turcotte and Gabriel Couture for South Grenville's go-ahead counter. Late in the same period the Lion’s Ben Lapier snapped a quick shot past Rangers netminder Carter Overhoff to cut the visitors lead to a single counter.

        Play went steadily back and forth through the opening eight minutes of the final stanza when the visitors crashed the Lions goal mouth for a pair of goals in less than a minute. Noah Penny beat Lyons for his second of the night and Gabriel Couture added his second point of the game. Nic Compeau and Matteo Dixon picked up single points on the two markers.

The Lions showed grit through the final 20 minute period, attacking the Rangers net relentlessly. However the star play of Overhoff between the South Grenville pipes remained true until Shamus Mcdonald added Morrisburg’s second goal with five minutes remaining.

Sunday, October. 6th - In spite of holding a considerable 13-4 lead in penalties called at Gatineau on Sunday afternoon the Morrisburg Lion's penalty kill and Carson Turner’s net minding managed to hold the league leading Volant snipers scoreless on their numerous power play opportunities. The Volant however did score seven even-strength goals, three in each of the first and second periods and a single in the closing frame.

    League scoring leader Julien Arruda added a single counter and one assist to round out his nine goals and 13 points totals after five games. Singles went to Charly Déry, Zachary Matte, Frédéric Faucher, Anthony Silva-Tassé, Nathan Dagenais and Mathis Villeneuve.

        On Saturday, Oct. 12th the 4th-place Metcalfe Jets visit the Lion’s den in Morrisburg for the first round of action between these two teams this season in a 7:15 p.m. start. The Lions then travel to St-Isidore to face the Eagles in a 7:30 p.m. game.