The Lions were a team with something to prove on Sunday, as they were looking to show the other teams that the team that lost 9-0 to the Tigers was a bunch of imposters and that they could handle that kind of adversity and repair team chemistry enough to continue on their quest to become CIHL champions. They had to do this against a Wolves team that seemed to be coming into their own, and without the services or their fearless team leader Mark Paas. This seemed like a tall order for the Lions, but they proved on Sunday night they were up for it.

The game started off very slowly with both teams looking tentative and not willing to risk anything offensively. The most excitement of the early stages was found when a Lions player went sprawling behind the net. Sensing the crowd beginning to get antsy, the Lions Roman Macnamara used the intimidating combo of an old style goalie cage and a forehead tattoo to scare the puck past the Wolves Andrew Lunman, at the 6 minute mark of the first period. This opened things up a little offensively speaking and the teams began to trade scoring opportunities, but solid work by Lunman and Lions goalie Justin Lewis kept the score at 1-0. That is until the Lions Robin Ripley spotted a loose puck in the neutral zone and took off like he was on fire, blowing past Wolves defenseman John Long in the process, and tucking a backhand past Lunman after a nice move.

The Wolves knew they had to answer back before the game got out of their reach, So they turned to an unlikely source, one half of their twin towers, Sean Bourassa, who snuck a tricky backhand past a surprised Lewis. This gave the Wolves the jump they needed to get right back in the game and with 4 minutes left in the first Dylan Liu tied things up, cleaning up after a scramble in front.

The second period saw the teams go back to the tentative conservative play that we saw early on in the first. It looked like both teams were going to be happy to pick up a point and take their chances in the shootout, but something happened on both benches during the second intermission as both teams cam out flying to start the third.

The Wolves broke in on a 2 on 1 then a breakaway and both times they were turned away by great saves from Lewis. The Lions were finally able to get back on the scoreboard when Josh Smith roofed a shot on Lunman’s glove side, 7 minutes into the third. The Wolves came storming back with 3:12 left to play, as John Long redeemed himself with an unassisted power play goal. All signs were pointing to a shoot out until Ripley fired a shot on net and again Roman Macnamara worked his magic with a beautiful deflection that beat Lunman with just 2:29 left to play. That was the end of the line for the Wolves who once again saw a valiant team effort fall just short of a win. Both teams will be looking to finish up the season with a win, which will improve their playoff seed, as the Wolves play the Tigers and the Lions play the defending champs the Sharks.

1 st Star Roman Macnamara

2 nd Star Robin Ripley

3 rd Star Dylan Liu