CORNWALL Ontario – The third annual Teddy Toss was a huge success on Saturday night at the Civic Complex as River Kings fans tossed 1,114 Teddy Bears onto the ice. The team also raised more than $500 in the annual Sparky’s Toy Drive.
Cornwall, despite a great third-period comeback, dropped the contest 5-4 in overtime at the hands of the St-Georges Cool FM in front of 901 fans. Kevin Cloutier’s blast from the high slot 1:28 into 3-on-3 overtime was the game winner.
The River Kings, who trailed St-Georges 4-2 after 40 minutes, got third-period goals from Michael Stinziani and Nicolas Pard to earn the team a point and send the game to the extra session.
Stinziani picked the top corner with 7:34 to play when he beat Hubert Morin before Pard batted in a cross-crease pass to tie the game for Cornwall with 3:34 to play.
Eric Bertrand opened the scoring for St-Georges when he beat Pete Karvouniaris five-hole at 8:34 of the first.
Then, Nicolas Larocque-Marcoux came through for the River Kings, scoring the Teddy Toss goal at 12:18 of the first. Marcoux buried a feed from David Croteau and fans flooded the ice with teddy bears.
Bertrand scored his second of the contest on the powerplay with 48 seconds to play in the first. Pierre-Luc Faubert leveled the score 1:54 into the second with a powerplay goal of his own.
Then, Francis Charette beat Karvouniaris twice before the end of the middle frame to give St-Georges a 4-2 lead after two periods.
River Kings defenceman Frederick Cote dropped the mitts with Patrick Bernier and Cornwall’s Curtis Tidball took on Kevin Cormier in the first period.
Shots on goal were 28-28. Charette (first), Bertrand (second) and Faubert were the announced stars.
FRIDAY NIGHT: Thomas Beauregard and Patrick Lapostolle each had a pair of goals to lead Trois-Rivieres to a 6-0 victory over the River Kings. Cornwall outshot the Blizzard 41-34 but couldn’t beat Marco Cousineau, who posted the shutout.
JERSEY NIGHT: Next Saturday is Jersey Night at the Civic Complex as the River Kings host the Trois-Rivieres Blizzard in the team’s final game of 2015. Fans under the age of 12 wearing any jersey will be admitted at no charge (must be accompanied by an adult). The puck drops at the Civic Complex at 7:30 p.m.
Icelevel.com Photo
Over 1100 teddy bears for kids and $500 is good. Now if the River Kings could get a few wins it would help and put bums in the seats.