The Morrisburg Lions welcomed the Clarence Castors to the Morrisburg Arena on Sat., Dec. 15, in the NCJHL. The Lions’ forward and Morrisburg native, Cal Bilmer (22) scored a goal and picked up a helper but the Lions fell short 4-2. Moore photo

Jeff Moore

Record Staff

MORRISBURG—The Morrisburg Lions played a pair of games this past weekend as they travelled to Metcalfe on Friday night to take on the Jets and welcomed the Clarence Castors on Saturday night.

Castors 4 Lions 2

The Morrisburg Lions welcomed the Clarence Castors to the Morrisburg Arena on Sat., Dec. 15, in the NCJHL. The Lions were coming off an 8-6 loss to the Metcalfe Jets, a game which they needed to win but came up just short. The Lions will now have to keep their eyes on the Gatineau Hull Volant in the East Division who have only 13 points and sit in the last playoff spot. 

The Lions opened the scoring just 1:04 into the first period as Devon Burns snapped one home from Cal Bilmer to take a 1-0 lead. The Castors tied the game at 3:45 and took their first lead of the game at 7:31 while shorthanded. 

The Castors scored their third goal of the game with just 57 seconds remaining in the opening frame on the power play and took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission. The Castors made it 4-1 at 5:07 but the Lions got that one back at 14:31 as Bilmer scored from Burns on the power play but trailed 4-2 heading into the second intermission. 

The teams battled to a scoreless third period as the castors took the game 4-2 handing the Lions their 17th loss of the season. Suffering the loss in the Lions’ goal was Riley Phillips making 35 saves on 39 shots.

Jets 8 Lions 6

The Morrisburg Lions travelled to the Larry Robinson Arena in Metcalfe to take on the Jets on Fri., Dec. 14, in the NCJHL. It was basically a “must win game” for the Lions as they sat in fourth place in the West Division five points behind the Jets who they have to catch if they have any hope for the playoffs. 

The Lions opened the scoring when Brandon Cameron scored a power play goal from Devon Burns and Graham Robertson at 3:29 of the first period to take a 1-0 lead. The Jets tied the game as Devon Upton scored from Evan Mantha and Cameron Gallant at 9:29. 

The Lions retook the lead when Zach Leblanc scored from Aaron Smith at 13:27 but the Jets tied the game just 21 seconds later as Quinn Bowman scored from A. J. McRae and Austin Gough. The Jets took their first lead of the game when Mantha scored an unassisted goal 15:18 while shorthanded but the Lions tied the game again when Burns lit the lamp from Francis Chartrand on the power play at 16:43. 

Mantha scored his second of the game with just one second remaining in the opening frame from Jarrett Ladouceur and Gallant and took a 4-3 lead into the first intermission. The Lions tied the game just 18 seconds into the second period as Burns scored his second of the game from Robertson. 

The Jets retook the lead when Josh Boice scored from Bowman and Ladouceur at 9:51 and took a two-goal lead at 10:27 as Ladouceur scored from Mantha. The Jets made it 7-4 when Mantha completed his hat trick from Gallant and Ladouceur at 13:57. 

The Jets took a four-goal lead when Gough scored from Upton and Mark Morrison with just 1:18 remaining in the middle frame. The Jets took an 8-4 lead into the second intermission. 

The Lions made it 8-5 as Cal Bilmer scored a power play goal from Robertson and Leblanc at 3:24 and 8-6 as Hayden Hoerner scored a power play goal from Burns and Justin Shay at 12:45. The Lions tried to catch up but the hole was too deep as the Jets hung on to take the game 8-6. 

With the win, the Jets move seven points ahead of the Lions. Picking up the win in the Jets’ goal was Dominik Turcotte and suffering the loss in the Lions’ goal was Riley Phillips.

Up next

The Morrisburg Lions travel to the Chesterville Arena on Sat., Dec. 21, to take on the North Dundas Rockets at 7:30 p.m.