The show on the ice was not the one expected for the first game in the history of the Trois-Rivières Lions. But the crowd, delighted to meet their team for the first time, never abandoned them in the 6-3 loss. “Lions, Lions, Lions”, she even chanted at the end of the match.
The Trois-Rivières Lions undoubtedly would have liked to offer a better show to the 4,500 fans present in the stands on the occasion of their inaugural evening. It had started pretty well, by the way.
A kind of collective happiness was already floating in the air an hour and a half before the match, which started at 7 p.m. At 5:15 p.m., dozens of people lined up in front of the Colosseum.
The Lions being affiliated with the Montreal Canadiens, you could see the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge jerseys here and there in the stands. A few motivated had even purchased a local team jersey.
The crowd showed up for the first time during the presentation of the players, but it was especially when it was time to welcome former Canadians Réjean Houle, Jean-Guy Talbot and Léon Rochefort to the ice that they really enjoyed themselves. inflamed. There was something to shudder about when she gave a one-minute standing ovation to Mr. Talbot, who, masking his face, delicately held out his hand in thanks.
“The fans, the people of Trois-Rivières, it was incredible,” said head coach Éric Bélanger at a press conference after the game.
“I played for a long time and to see, today, the people standing at the start of the game and the former Canadiens players, it was special. I had chills and I know our players had them. They may have had it too long… ”
Perhaps, since things turned sour when it came time to start playing hockey.
Difficult beginnings
No one was sure what to expect from this brand new team, built from scratch by General Manager Marc-André Bergeron over the past few months.
First opponent? The Newfoundland Growlers. It only took them 15 seconds to beat Kevin Poulin for the first time. But the crowd did not let its enthusiasm aside, chanting in chorus of “Let’s go Lions” in the following minutes.
“The atmosphere was exciting,” said Cédric Montminy after the game. Of course we didn’t get the result we wanted, but the fans responded. It was up to us to get up. ”
The Growlers, visibly not intimidated, repeated 12 minutes later, before tripling their lead with 5 minutes to go in the first period. Eric Bélanger’s troop, which lacked cohesion, therefore retired to the locker room with a delay of three goals. Not the best start. Likely due to the scale of the event, according to the coach.
“Was I surprised? Not necessarily, said the pilot at a press conference. We would have liked a better start, but we have a lot of things we can improve, watch on the videos. ”
It was at the end of the second period, when they were trailing 4-0, that the Lions seemed to come out of their trance. Crowd favorite, Trifluvien Alexis D’Aoust – who else? – scored the first goal in club history, taking advantage of a two-on-one climb to sneak the puck under Evan Cormier’s mitt with a shot from the wrists. The amphitheater almost shook with the screams.
“It was a fairytale atmosphere, said D’Aoust, still looking crestfallen. It was special to me because I am from the area and I had a lot of family and friends who were there. I also think of my parents. They haven’t been able to see me play in person for two years. ”
Highly anticipated, D’Aoust’s goal gave the felines a second wind. Shawn St-Amant nicely beat the keeper on a breakaway two minutes later to close the lead to 4-2.
The Growlers scored on the return from intermission to go 5-2. The Lions ultimately lost 6-3. Captain Cédric Montminy scored the third goal.
Tired
On several occasions at a press conference, the players and the coach addressed the fact that the team did not play a pre-season game. The players also seemed particularly tired at the end of the match.
“Defensively, it was too easy for the Growlers,” said Bélanger. Loss of coverage… These are things that happen in the preparatory game, but we saw it at the start of the season. It is correctable. ”
The team from Trois-Rivières still showed character in the match, never giving up, even at 4-0. A positive point of this first meeting.
“We still did good things, agreed the cerberus Kevin Poulin. It wasn’t just 60 minutes of negative. But it was not enough. […] We will adjust as a team. ”
The Lions will have a chance to get revenge in front of their fans, as they face the Growlers again on Friday.
Besides, they can certainly hold back one thing in defeat: they have a whole city behind them.
“They showed us their support right away tonight,” said Cédric Montminy. It will be up to us to come back strong tomorrow to show them that we too are ready to take our game up a notch for them. ”