CORNWALL Ontario – Local hockey fans showed the River Kings some love on Sunday afternoon at the Civic Complex with a season-high crowd of 1,321. But the Laval Predateurs spoiled the party, snapping Cornwall’s four-game winning streak on Valentine’s Day with a 4-2 victory.
It was the River Kings first regulation loss since Jan. 15, which also came against the Predateurs. Cornwall entered the game on a four-game winning streak and had gone 6-0-1 in its last seven contests.
Francois Ouimet opened the scoring for the River Kings with 4:25 to play in the opening period. Ouimet, off a feed from Pierre-Luc Faubert, showed patience with a beautiful deke that beat Adam Russo.
Moments after Cornwall killed off a 5-on-3, Yann Poirier leveled the score by beating Charles Corsi upstairs at 8:53 of the middle frame.
Francis Wathier gave the Predateurs the lead with a powerplay goal at 13:30 of the second and moments later at 16:45, he let a blast go from the top of the circle that also beat Corsi.
Keven Veilleux brought the River Kings to within a goal with a powerplay marker of their own with 1:41 to play in the second when he pounced on a Nicolas Larocque-Marcoux rebound to beat Russo.
But with 20 seconds to play in the second, Martin Gascon scored a back-breaker to give Laval a two-goal lead after 40 minutes.
Laval outshot Cornwall 35-33 on the afternoon. Corsi was tagged with his first loss in goal for the River Kings after winning his first four starts.
Wathier (first), Gascon (second) and Ouimet were the announced stars.
FRIDAY: On Friday night at Trois-Rivieres, the River Kings offence exploded for a season-high nine goals en route to a 9-3 victory over the Blizzard. Ouimet led the Kings attack with two goals and three assists. Six different Cornwall skaters had multiple-point efforts. David Croteau and Stephen Bluden each had two goals, while Sy Nutkevitch (one goal, three assists), Cory Pecker (one goal, two assists) and Nicolas Pard (one goal) also contributed offensively. Defenceman William Lacasse chipped in a pair of helpers. Corsi earned the victory in goal with 29 saves.
NEXT WEEKEND: Next Friday, the River Kings travel to Jonquiere to take on the first-place Marquis. The following night, Saturday, Feb. 20, Cornwall hosts Francis Lessard and the Trois-Rivieres Blizzard. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.