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ECHL Trois-Rivieres Lions

On to 2023

January 1, 2023 - ECHL (ECHL)
Trois-Rivieres Lions News Release


The Lions were looking to end 2022 on a high note with a win over the Adirondack Thunder. But this was going to be a difficult task what with head coach Marc-André Bergeron and Co. playing a third game in three consecutive nights.

Early in the game the Thunder's Garrett Van Wyhe beat his former teammate, Lions' netminder Francis Marotte, to score his third goal of the season and give Adirondack a 1-0 lead. The Thunder then continued to apply pressure, but Marotte held his ground, stopping the subsequent 13 shots he faced. Trois-Rivières ended the period with seven shots on goal, but none of those shots could be considered as a quality chance. After 20 minutes of play, the Thunder held a one-goal lead.

Adirondack made things even tougher for the Lions at the start of the second period with two goals in the span of 52 seconds. Grant Jozefek took a terrific Travis Broughman pass and he found himself in alone against Marotte, and his backhander found the back of the Lions' net. A bad line change by the Lions then allowed Patrick Grasso and Brandon Schultz to have a two-against-none. Grasso - the Thunder's leading scorer - made the most of the opportunity and his 15th goal of the season gave Adirondack a 3-0 lead. Midway through the period the Lions' William Leblanc tried to restore hope for his team with a great rush: The Drummondville native completely fooled the Thunder defence corps and his pinpoint shot went past Adirondack goalie Jake Theut. But just a minute later the Thunder notched their third goal of the period when Broughman deflected a shot from Ryan Orgel to give Adirondack a 4-1 lead. The Lions were unable to apply serious pressure towards the Thunder goal for the rest of the period and entered the second intermission down by three goals.

Trois-Rivières tried to get back in the game in the final 20 minutes of play, but Theut had other ideas. The goalkeeper denied Cédric Montminy with a nice pad save to keep the score 4-1. At the other end of the ice, Marotte made a spectacular save against the Thunder's Grasso who had been left alone in the slot. The Adirondack forward thought he had his second goal of the game, but the Lions' goalkeeper read the play perfectly. With less than five minutes to go, the Lions' Conner Chaulk took a pass from Nicolas Guay and beat Theut with a top-shelf shot, registering his first goal in a Trois-Rivières uniform. But less than three minutes later Adirondack's Colin Long sealed the deal with an empty net goal to make the final score 5-2.

The Lions lost for the second time in consecutive nights. The team now has a four-day break to recharge their batteries before taking on the Maine Mariners at Colisée Vidéotron on January 4.

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