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Lion-hearted Leafs edged by Plattsville

Langton Lions Club Leafs novice rep hockey team played with the ‘hearts of lions’ on the weekend in their OMHA DD semifinal hockey series with Plattsville.

After losing the Feb. 25th series opener 6-4 on home ice, the Lions traveled to Plattsville Saturday, March 2 for Game 2.

“It was a tough one, we lost 4-3,” said Langton Lions coach Michel Vandendriessche.

“We were down 4-1 with two minutes left. We pulled our goalie and we ended up scoring two goals.”

Josh King netted his second goal of the game with just under two minutes left to play, then added a third ‘hat-trick’ goal with about 1:30 remaining.

“We came close to tying that one,” said Vandendriessche.

“Plattsville’s a big team and they play some tough hockey.”

The Leafs never gave up, however.

“Our kids worked hard, they never gave up, and they were really digging.”

Plattsville clinched the six-point semifinal series in Langton Sunday, March 3 with a 6-1 win.

“They got a couple goals on us early and it was a tough go. But the kids played hard again and we had a great crowd of supporters. We had a lot of people behind us, that’s for sure.

“I was really proud of them. Last night (Sunday), even though they lost, the kids played so hard and they dug in the corners and worked as hard as they could. The coaches said it to them, ‘you guys should be proud of yourselves.’ The kids proved to themselves they can really do it.

“We also have a great group of parents,” added Vandendriessche on behalf of the coaches. “Just fantastic parents, super supportive.”

Plattsville’s Liam McMaster (77) and Tayden Shantz (66) both scored hat tricks in Game 3. The same dynamic duo accounted for five of the team’s six goals in Game 1.

Josh King scored for Langton Sunday.

“He (King) has been playing really well for us – I’m pretty sure he’s our top point-getter this year.”

Langton, a middle-of-the-pack B Division team in the second half of the West season, continues its Southern Counties playoffs with four A Division round-robin games still on the sked against Paris, Delhi, Ingersoll and Tillsonburg.

About 7-8 of the Lions novices will be atom eligible next year, and Vandendriessche is hoping Langton will ice an atom rep team in 2013-14.

“I’m pretty confident.”

Distroscale

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