A feel-good victory for the Lions

Saturday night saw the Lions facing off against the Icemen at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville. Both teams currently sport good records, although the Lions began the evening in the throes of a tough road trip where wins have been hard to come by. The feeling going into the game was that if the Lions could return to the style of play they employed when the season began they’d be in good shape against the Icemen. A Teddy Bear Toss was also in the cards on Saturday, with the colourful spectacle of stuffed animals being hurled onto the ice surface following the Icemen’s first goal of the night.

The Lions began the game with a bang, scoring three consecutive goals without a reply from Jacksonville. Jake Bricknell opened the scoring for the Lions, his first in a Trois-Rivières uniform. He had just come out of the penalty box after serving a two-minute minor for tripping when he found the back of the Icemen net. Christopher Ortiz made it 2-0 for the Lions a few minutes later, and then captain Cedric Montminy made it 3-0 with less than a minute remaining in the period.

The tables were turned in the second period as Jacksonville responded with three goals of their own: Riley Fiddler-Shultz got the Icemen on the board at the 7:30 mark, and then a few minutes later he notched his second with assists going to Brendan Harris and Christopher Brown. Matheson Iacopelli scored at 11:09 to knot the game at 3-3. But just 13 seconds later Lions’ captain Montminy scored his second of the game with an assist being given to Miguël Tourigny to put the Lions back in front, 4-3.

There was no scoring in the third period, meaning the Lions left Jacksonville with a 4-3 victory. The win got the Lions off the schneid after having lost three straight games. The team now makes its way to South Carolina to face the Stingrays for a Sunday afternoon encounter. It will be the final game of the team’s seven-game east coast road trip, after which the team heads back home to Trois-Rivières.