The Morrisburg Lions’ defenseman and Morrisburg native Evan Manth has eight goals and nine assists in 16 games this season with the Lions.     O’Donohue photo

Jeff Moore
Record Staff
ST-ANDRÉ-AVELLIN – The Morrisburg Lions had two games this past weekend.

Vikings 8 Lions 2: The Lions travelled to the Aréna Stéphane-Richer in Saint-André- Avellin to take on the Papineau Vikings on Sun., Dec. 17, in the NCJHL. The Lions went into the game in an tenth-place tie with the Blackburn Inferno after dropping their previous game 6-3 to the Metcalfe Jets. The Vikings sat at the top of the standings and had only lost three games on the season.

The Lions opened the scoring when Evan Mantha snapped one to the back of the net from Brenna Revell and Brian Landry 4:26 of the first period but the Vikings answered with two goals within 30 seconds of the Lions’ goal to take a 2-1 lead.

The Vikings made it 3-1 at 8:25 and 4-1 at 13:36. The Vikings took the 4-1 lead into the first intermission. The Vikings added three more unanswered goals in the second period at 2:25, 2:48 and 16:31 on the power play and took a 7-1 lead into the second intermission.

The Vikings made it 8-1 at 11:08 of the third period but the Lions got one back at 16:41 when Alec St. Gelais slapped one home from Anthony Caserta to make it 8-2. The Vikings went on to take the game 8-2 handing the Lions their 15th loss of the season. Suffering the loss in the Lions’ goal was Dean Gauvreau.

Jets 6 Lions 3: The Lions welcomed the Metcalfe Jets to the Morrisburg Arena on Sat., Dec. 16, in the NCJHL. The Lions sat in a 10th-place tie with the Blackburn Inferno but have played three less games and sat three points behind the South Grenville Rangers in ninth. The Jets sat in eighth place with 18 points one point behind the seventh-place Vankleek Hill Cougars, two points behind the sixth-place Clarence Castors and six points ahead of the Rangers in ninth.

The Lions opened the scoring just 24 seconds into the first period when Evan Mantha snuck one to the back of the net from Alec St. Gelais to take a 1-0 lead. The Lions made it 2-0 when Jacob Kendrick blasted one home from Josh Barnes and Kirk Gauvreau at 15:29 but the Jets answered just over a minute later when Tyler Jodoin slapped one home from Jacob Marley and Dylan Nixon on the power play.

The Lions took the 2-1 lead into the first intermission. The Jets tied the game when Jodoin scored his second of the game from Marley at 2:26. The Lions retook the lead when Kendrick sniped one from Zach Leblanc at 9:06. With time winding down in the middle frame the Jets scored their second power play goal with just 24 seconds remaining as William Baudet smacked one home from Phil Brunet and Matt Laurin.

The teams took a three-all stalemate into the second intermission. It was all Jets in the third as Jacob Gregoire fired one home just 1:31 into the third period from Alex Emard taking a 4-3 lead. The Jets made it 5-3 when Marley banged one home from Nixon on the power play at 6:48. The Jets closed out the scoring when Nathan Bols finessed one to the back of the net from Jodoin with 3:25 remaining in the game.

The Jets hung on for the 6-3 victory moving to within one point of the Cougars in seventh place. Picking up the win in the Jets’ goal was Danick Gervais making 30 saves on 33 shots and suffering the loss for the Lions was Dean Gauvreau making 24 saves on 30 shots.

Up next: Fri., Jan. 5, Lions vs. Bytown Royals, Ottawa; Sat., Jan. 6, Lions vs. Gatineau Hull-Volant, Morrisburg Arena.