Lions and Growlers: Game Three of Four

The Lions faced off against the Newfoundland Growlers for a third time at Mary Brown’s Centre.The Lions opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game when Anthony Nellis notched his 15th goal of the season. Trois-Rivières’ Mathieu Gagnon then put the Lions ahead 2-0 when he scored at the 13:18 mark of the period. The first period ended with the Lions up by two. Newfoundland scored three unanswered goals to start the second period and took a 3-2 lead, with goals coming from Orrin Centazzo, Evan Neugold and Pavel Gogolev. Coach Éric Bélanger’s Lions evened things back up when captain Cédric Montminy scored with an assist going to Nicolas Larrivière. However, the Growlers once again took the lead when forward Zach O’Brien scored back-to-back goals and at the end of the second period the Growlers led 5-3.The Growlers scoring outburst continued in the third period when Matteo Pietroniro, Orrin Centazzo (his second of the night) and James Melindy all scored to give Newfoundland an 8-3 lead. Lions forward Jonathan Joannette reduced the margin to 8-4 with just over five minutes remaining in the period, but Noel Horfenmayer sealed the victory for the Growlers with his 12th of the season. Despite the team’s strong start, the Lions ultimately fell to Newfoundland 9-4.The Lions next game is Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m., once again at Mary Brown’s Centre.