Junior Lions split opening games . . .

Almonte Inferno Captain Justin Greene, Morrisburg Canadian Tire owner Steve Dempsey,

Morrisburg Lions Owner's Group Dale Lewis and Lion's Captain Ben Lapier take part

in the 2024-25 Junior Hockey season opener at Morrisburg Arena. . .

Saturday, Sept. 21st - After scoring early and often on Saturday evening against the Almonte Inferno at Morrisburg, the Junior Lions travelled to Cumberland on Sunday afternoon to meet the Castors. A terribly short bench and two costly injuries left the team extremely short for the game, and a score that left the Lions on the short side of a 9-1 drubbing.

         Morrisburg’s Junior Lions opened their 2024-25 regular season at home scoring an impressive Saturday evening victory over the Almonte Inferno. The first game of the year at Morrisburg Arena saw a strong following squeeze into the seating area along with the PEP Band from Clarkson University, New York, who kept the evening bouncing with excitement throughout the game.

Canadian Tire’s Steve Dempsey dropped the opening game’s official face-off puck followed by both Us and Canadian anthems by the visiting band. 

        Less than six minutes into the 1st-period Justin Cyr put the home team up by a goal when Augustus Curry organized a winning play. Inferno netminder Tristan Batista fell for Curry’s fast stick-handling and was beaten cleanly by Cyr on the play.

        The Lions increased their lead to 3-0 before the period ended when Josh Broad hit newcomer Wyatt Barkley with a clean blade to blade pass. Barkley held the puck long enough to draw the Almonte defence to the left slot before feeding linemate and newcomer to the Lions, Monty DeJong a clear opportunity. DeJong made the goal, his only point of the night, look like child’s play.

Bennett Harty completed the Lions 2-minute, 3-goal scoring outburst when he slipped the puck behind Batista on an Ashton Adams/Ethan Ezard set-up.

        “Our team’s discipline was certainly being noted in this opening game,” announced Lion’s Coach Jamie Smith following the 1st-period. Morrisburg would serve just two minor penalties over the game’s duration while the Inferno were called on seven minors and one 10-minute misconduct penalty. The Lions managed a single power-play marker on seven opportunities.

        The Lions added another three counters in the middle period when Cry fired his second of the game, a power-play counter from Captain Ben Lapier and Ethan Izard when the team held the man advantage. Brad Greggain put Morrisburg up 5-2 immediately after the Inferno had scored a pair of markers midway through the second period. Lapier and Callum Stevenson drew the assists on Greggain’s marker. 

        Almonte’s Justin Greene and Wayland Thompson beat Lion’s netminder Carson Turner for the quick pair of goals with Anthony Fiorenza and Louis Tumber drawing assists. Thompson’s goal went unassisted.

        Lapier then added a goal with Cyr and Ashton Adams assisting late in the period to bring the Lions lead to a 6-2 lead after 40 minutes of action.

        The Lions would outscore their opponents 2-1 in the final 20-minutes of play. Fiorenza notched the Inferno’s final goal of the game six minutes into the period with Greene and Tumber posting assists. 

        Ashton Adams blew a shot into the Almonte net on an unassisted play and a 7-3 lead before Greggain wired his second on Ben Lapier’s 4th-point assist to close the game scoring at 8-3.

        “That was an absolutely great start to a new season,” GM Kevin Casselman, beaming with pride, said following the game.

        Ashton Adams and Justin Cyr each recorded a trio of points, Ethan Ezard added a pair as did Greggain Bradley (all goals). Captain Ben Lapier marked a goal and three assists for four points on his opening night of the season.

        “Justin Cyr with his effort and energy was our standout player tonight,” Coach Smith added, “And I couldn’t be happier with our new group of players. Wyatt Barkley, especially with his speed and agility is going to be  a strong presence for us. Monty DeJong not only appears to be having the time of his life out there, he scores a beautiful goal in his 1st-game, and that one from Barkley!”

        Smith pointed out that his team Captain, Lapier, had a great night, “as always!” 

“Lapier,” Smith said, “inspires his team-mates throughout every game he plays.”

        “Our goaltender, Turner, was amazing in the early going while we were kicking the rust off.” Smith said, “And it was nice that we got his back-up, Nick Lyons into the game too.”

Sunday, Sept. 22nd - The Cumberland Castors scored early and scored often against the Morrisburg Lions on Sunday evening at the Ray Friel Recreation Complex. The visitors from Morrisburg arrived with a short bench due to injury and commitments and according to those following the team, were not exactly in the game for good reason.

        The Castors grabbed a 4-0 opening period lead, increased the edge to 8-1 after 40-minutes, than added a single in the final 20-minutes just to get the icing on the cake correctly.

        "We arrived at Cumberland with 10-forwards," Coach Smith explained on Monday afternoon.

        "We lost two players (Ashton Adams, shoulder; Ethan Evans, wrist;) and a third was eliminated on a misconduct call  for a bad check." Smith added.

        "We played more than 30-minutes with seven forwards and still the guys didn't lose their composure. No crazy stuff.!" Coach Smith added, "That's a good thing to see in this league."

        Bradley Greggain scored the lone Morrisburg goal early in the middle period on an unassisted effort.

        Nick Lyon stood between the Morrisburg pipes for his 1st-game of the young season.

        Morrisburg's next outing is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 27th at the Almonte & District Community Centre in a 7:30 p.m. start. The Lions will host South Grenville on Saturday, Oct. 5th when the Rangers come to town for a 7:15 p.m. start. The following day, Sunday, Oct. 6th, the Lions are scheduled to visit the Slush Puppy Centre in Gatineau to meet the Hull Volant in a 4:00 p.m. puck drop.