A heartbreaking loss for the Lions

Having gone two months without playing one another, the Lions and Railers finally hooked up for their second face-to-face of the season, with their only previous encounter a Trois-Rivières 4-1 victory in Worcester back in October. The Lions entered Friday’s contest ahead of the Railers in the standings, which Trois-Rivières fans were hoping would give their club an opportunity to snap their five-game winless streak.

The first period saw the Lions registering 11 shots at the Railers’ net, with Worcester responding with eight of their own. The Lions opened the scoring at the 9:08 mark when Anthony Beauregard deflected Justin Ducharme’s super pass for his tenth goal of the season.

The second period was scoreless, with the Railers holding a 13-7 shots on goal advantage. The Lions’ Ducharme came close to scoring but Worcester netminder Henrik Tikkanen was up to the challenge. Four penalties were assessed in the period, two to Trois-Rivières and two to the Railers’ John Copeland.

Unfortunately for the Lions, the third period saw the Railers find the back of the Trois-Rivières net three times to extend the Lions’ winless misery. Worcester’s Anthony Repaci scored just over a minute into the period to tie the game at 1-1. All indications were that the teams would be heading to overtime. However, the Railers’ Joey Cippolone scored at 18:34 to give Worcester the lead after Lions’ goalie Joe Vrbetic left his goal and couldn’t scramble back in enough time to set himself. Worcester’s Ashton Calder then scored into an empty net with one second remaining to seal the deal for the Railers with a 3-1 victory. Here’s hoping that the Lions can get off the schneid when they face Adirondack on Saturday night.