2016 TELUS Cup

LATE GOAL GIVES LIONS WIN OVER BOBCATS

DAVID BRIEN

QUISPAMSIS, N.B. – Mathias Laferriere did it again for the Lions du Lac St-Louis on Monday afternoon, scoring with 36 seconds left to give his team a 3-2 win over the Lloydminster Bobcats in the opening game for both at the 2016 TELUS Cup.

Laferriere was the overtime hero 10 days ago, scoring the goal that gave the Lions the Ligue de hockey midget AAA du Québec championship and propelled them into Canada’s National Midget Championship.

Lac St-Louis captain Adam Capannelli found Laferriere from behind the net, and he made no mistake with a quick wrist shot, beating Lloydminster goaltender Austin McGrath to give the Quebec champions an important two points on Day 1.

Much of the game belonged to the goaltenders, which wasn’t surprising considering both were named playoff MVP in their respective leagues; McGrath turned aside 38 shots for the Bobcats, while Lions netminder Sandro Silvestre stopped 46 of 48 as both teams came out firing to start the tournament.

Lloydminster didn’t fire fewer than 14 shots at Silvestre in any of the three periods; the Bobcats finished with a 48-41 advantage, but were one goal short where it mattered most.
The Lions took an early lead when Kevin Pitts broke down the left wing and fed a perfect pass to Isiah Campbell, who redirected the puck past McGrath for a 1-0 advantage just 2:45 into the first period.

Lloydminster tied it at 1-1 late in the opening frame when Chase Wouters went five-hole on Silvestre on a Bobcats power play.

Lac St-Louis used a two-man advantage to retake the lead 14 minutes into the second period; Capannelli found Jérémie Bucheler pinching in off the blue-line, and the defenceman made no mistake on the one-timer to send the Lions to second intermission up 2-1.

The game would remain 2-1 until Wouters connected again on the power play, redirecting a point shot from T.J. Lloyd past Silvestre to tie the game with 6:47 left, leading to Laferriere’s late winner.

Lac St-Louis will look to make it two-for-two when it gets back on the ice Tuesday at the qplex to face the Saskatoon Contacts (noon AT), while Lloydminster returns to action in the day’s final game, taking on the host Saint John Vito’s (7:30 p.m. AT).