A dramatic overtime goal lifted the Pontiac Lions U18BB team to a 2-1 series lead over the Papineau Voisins in the Ligue de hockey régional de l’Outaouais (LHRO) final on Sunday.
The Lions led the game 3-1 early in the second period thanks to three goals from forward Finley Dagenais. But the Voisins clawed back, levelling the score before the third period’s end.
Then, with less than two minutes left in overtime, Dagenais unleashed a wrist shot from just inside the blue line, fooling the Voisins’ goalie and finding twine. The goal, Dagenais’ fourth of the game, was the game-winner.
“It felt amazing,” he said of the moment, while tipping his cap to goalie Malik Deschenes, who Dagenais said kept his team in the game with some clutch saves. “He’s the reason we’re here right now.”
Dagenais said his team got out to a slow start in the regular season, finishing fourth out of six teams and losing the last few games of the regular season. He said his teammates, many of whom never played together before this season, took a while to gel on the ice.
“We had a tournament in Laval, and after that tournament we all got together real close, and we just started clicking from there,” he said.
If the team was struggling to gel in the regular season, it didn’t show in the playoffs. The Lions went undefeated in their five-game playoff round robin, beating two teams Dagenais said they’d had trouble against all year long.
“We were pumped about those games [ . . . ] Our hopes were not very high for the playoffs,” he said.
Head coach Ced Caron said he’s proud of his team for turning it on in the past few weeks. He said some of his players aren’t used to playing against teams of this calibre, making their run even more impressive.
“It’s unreal what we did this year. They play hard. They listen. They’re all house league players playing against lots of AA [players],” he said.
Caron said this is the first time in a few years that Shawville has fielded a competitive team. Some players who were playing competitively in the city returned to Shawville to compete on this team, while other house league players got a taste of higher competition.
“We haven’t had a competitive team for several years now [ . . . ] and we weren’t sure how it was going to work. People doubted us because lots of players never played contact, lots of players never played double letters, and we’re going against cities like Gatineau, Aylmer, Buckingham, and they have a ton of players trying out for the team at tryouts,” he said.
The Lions lost the first game of the series 5-4, but redeemed themselves in Game 2 on Saturday, hosted at the Fort-Coulonge arena due to a scheduling conflict on their home ice in Shawville.
Despite having the hometown whoops and cheers to their advantage, the host Lions surrendered a first-period goal. But the team kept on the pressure and eventually broke through. Cédrik Dionne and Jakob Dumouchel got on the scoreboard before Dagenais potted another to put the game out of reach for the Voisins.
“It felt really good,” said Dagenais of the home win. “Especially knowing that all three goals came from Coulonge kids, and we had our Coulonge goalie, too. It was a good crowd.”
The Lions will have a chance to close out the series on Wednesday, Apr. 1 at 8 p.m. at the Fort-Coulonge arena. Caron said he is telling his players to treat it as if it were any other game, and keep playing as they have been.
“Shoot the puck like we’re doing right now, putting traffic in front of the net, and just seize our opportunity to put it in,” he said of his message to the team.
If necessary, the final game of the series will take place on Sunday, Apr. 5 at 4 p.m. at the Centre Sportif Robert-Rochon in Masson-Angers.
The winner of the series will advance to the provincial championships in April.
