With a single point separating the second place Tigers and third place Lions going into Sunday night’s opener, the importance of the 2 points at stake in this match up raised the bar in what some might consider a preview to a potential playoff semi-final match up. One thing was clear: Both of these teams needed this win to help themselves gain a better seed going into the post-season.

On the charts, both teams share a lot in common: Talented goaltending with John Osmar (Tigers) and Mario Beaulac (Lions); strong offense on the blue line from Tommy Sullivan (Tigers) and Mark Paas (Lions); and finally depth throughout with solid leadership from Clay Laughren (Tigers) and Robin Ripley (Lions). With both sides so evenly matched on paper, rink-side punters hard-pressed to give up points in their wagers for either side.

Unfortunately for the Lions, this was not every other Sunday. Short-manned missing the services of Roman Macnamara, the aforementioned Ripley, JR Reid, Rob Dombosky, Wray Dumont, and James Chang, the Lions had a lot of space on their bench, fielding only eight skaters for the match. Time was not on their side, as three twenty-minute periods would prove a marathon of ice time for those eight lonely warriors.

The Tigers were held at bay until the 8 minute mark of the first when captain, Laughren, netted his first of three on the night off of passes by Dan Definney and Tommy Sullivan. Capitalizing on Definney’s rebound, Laughren put the puck past a sprawling Lions tender, who had his first taste of what would be many on lack of help in front of the net. Tommy Sullivan put the Tigers up by two before the end of the period on an unassisted end-to-end rush that made it pretty obvious why he was their first pick in this year’s draft. Carrying the puck from deep in his own end, Sullivan came up the boards and cut across at the Lions’ blue line, fending off two defenders to put the puck past Beaulac.

On to the second, where the pace slowed for the first twelve minutes. To his credit, Lions defenseman, Mark Paas was key to countless breakout efforts hitting Ryan Haynes, Josh Smith and Adam Collardey square on the tape with a basket (it is Easter after all) of feeds. Sadly, no eggs in this basket for the Lions, as Tigers goalie John Osmar fended off the initial shots and the Lions couldn’t muster the moxie to follow up on rebounds. Laughren potted his second of the night at the twelve-minute mark, off of a feed from Jeff Millard , and Dave Merrifield put the Tigers up by 4 with a power-play goal on passes by Kevin Yu and Steven Liu.

With legs wearing thin, the Lions tried to compensate by taking some liberties and going to the body in the late minutes of the second and into the third. This saw them with their fourth of five minor penalties in the second minute of the third; a tripping call on Mitch Tsai carried over from the final seconds of the previous period. The Tigers, always dangerous with a man advantage, wasted no time with Dan Definney jumping on a Jeff Millard rebound, second assist to Lewis Gwo, to put the fifth of the night past an increasingly frustrated Beaulac.

The rest of the third is something the Lions are sure to wish they could have given up for Lent. Kevin Yu snuck behind the sagging Lions defense, taking a pass from defenseman, Xiao Hong, to make it 6 for the Tigers, Then Millard, not content with the two assists he already had on the night, made it 7 on a pass from Laughren. Then with five minutes left, Definney made it 8 for the Tigers off yet another pass from Jeff Millard.

All looked to be said and done, when in the dying seconds, Tiger’s captain Laughren iced the puck from behind his own net. As luck would have it, the shot was on net and Lions tender, Mario Beaulac added insult to injury for his teammates when he blatantly stepped out of the way of the shot to let it trickle into the net, giving the Tigers the 9-0 final. Guess after eight, Beaulac was not concerned what a ninth would do to his GAA, but the play didn’t show much respect for his eight teammates who had already suffered through as much of a beating as they could take. Beaulac made sure that the only egg in the Lions basket was a rotten one they could have done without.

The Shannon Three Stars: