Gatineau Hull-Volant forward Jérémy Marcotte drew Morrisburg Lions goalie Andrew Brooks too far out of his net, scoring a short-handed goal early in the second period of their October 29 game in Morrisburg. Morrisburg gave up four power play and two short-handed goals in the lopsided 9-3 loss to the high-flying Hull-Volant. The Jr. Lions close out a busy October schedule with two wins and six losses. (The Leader/Blancher photo)nnMORRISBURG – It was not for a lack of effort, but against the top two teams in the National Capital Junior Hockey League, the Morrisburg Jr. Lions could not catch a break.nnThe Lions hosted the league leading Gatineau Hull-Volant at home Saturday night (October 29) and got off to a great start.nnLate in the first period, Morrisburg took a 1-0 lead thanks to a power play goal by Rylan Iwachniuk, assisted by Curran Gilmour and Connor Manderson. The Lions’ lead did not last long as the Hull-Volant tied the game up a minute later, and scored two power play goals of their own late in the period. Morrisburg trailed Gatineau 3-1 after 20 minutes.nnThe Lions’ woes continued into the second period. The high-flying Hull-Volant scored twice – the first shorthanded, followed by a power play goal later in the period. Despite out-shooting Gatineau 26-19 through two periods, Morrisburg could not gain any traction against the league-leaders.nnThat changed a bit in the third period, where the Hull-Volant scored four goals, but the Lions also scored twice. The first by Ben Pilon (from Malcolm Cooper and Justice Brownlee), followed by a late goal from Brownlee (Owen Fetterly, Keon Troccolli-Roik).nnMorrisburg out shot Gatineau 42-40 and were three-for-nine on the penalty-kill. The team also allowed three shorthanded goals in the 9-3 loss.nnSunday saw the Lions travel to Clarence Creek to take on the second place Castors and looking to avenge the loss from the teams’ opening day 7-6 overtime loss September 24.nnMorrisburg took a 2-1 lead in the first period. Brownlee (from Manderson and Hudson Fetterly) scored on a Lions’ power play. Troccolli-Roik (Brownlee, Justin Lalonde-Cyr) added the second goal to put the Lions in the lead.nnAfter the Castors tied the game early in the second period, Manderson (Iwachniuk, Lalonde-Cyr) scored on another Lions’ power-play. Alex Bergeron (Landen Sinfield, Iwachniuk) extended Morrisburg’s lead to 4-2 in the dying embers of the second period.nnThe Lions made it a 5-2 game early in the third period as Troccolli-Roik connected a pass from Lalonde-Cyr with the back of the Castors’ goal.nnMorrisburg was in the drivers seat with 11 minutes remaining in the game – but then things went awry. Clarence scored four unanswered goals including three on the power play.nnThe game winner for the Castor was scored with five minutes left on the clock. A quick time out for a reset did not help the Lions, who lost 6-5.nnMorrisburg sits in seventh place in the league, one point behind the Almonte Inferno, and one point ahead of the Westport Rideaus.nnMorrisburg will host back-to-back home games next weekend. October 5 sees the Lions host the Rideaus (7:15 p.m. puck drop) followed by the South Grenville Rangers on October 6 (2:15 p.m. puck drop).
