Lions’ coach happy with season, rebuilding was the key concern

MORRISBURG–With his first year behind the bench now under his belt, Morrisburg Junior B Lions coach Marc Bissonnette, says, that he and assistant coach Thom Racine feel they accomplished all that they set out to do.

“I felt that the last quarter of the season we played pretty good,” said Racine following the Lions’ final game, a 12-1 loss to the Glens in Alexandria on Friday, February 12.

“Overall we battled hard. It was a big transition from the previous year when they (Lions) won only a couple of games.”

 The Lions ended this year’s 40 game schedule in fifth place with 17 wins, 21 losses and two ties.

They missed out on a playoff spot by three points.

“For me it was great to see the kids improve.”

Bissonnette was extremely pleased with the growth of rookies Christian Leger, Tanner Williams and Michel Lefebvre all of whom placed in the top 10 rookie scoring race for the St. Lawrence Division. 

Leger put together a 56 point season on 31 goals and 25 assists for third place, Williams was fifth with 49 points (19-30) and Lefebvre was eighth with 45 points (18-27).

Overall, the Lions top scorer was Chris Rutley who placed eighth in the division scoring race with 25 goals and 33 assists for a 58 point season. Leger was ninth overall, Williams 15th, Lefebvre 19th and Jordan Vergette stepped into the 23rd position with a 37 point season.

Bissonnette points out it was a building year. The Lions are losing only two players, (their over-agers David Comeau and Nathan Murray) although Bissonnette suspects he has another two or three players who will be looked very closely at by Junior A clubs.

He also says that both of his goaltenders Graham Peters and Eric Head will be eligible as overage players next year if they continue to play. Both are nearing the end of their schooling.

“Graham and Eric both worked hard for us. They had a dark cloud over them. It was very tough for them the previous year.” 

Looking back on the year, Bissonnette points to a nine game losing streak the Lions chalked up from mid-October to mid-November. Although they fought back, the streak cost a gap that was very tough to close.

“It was hard to get those losses back.”

“We had some very close games that we were winning and then we fell apart. That was inexperience. In our last 10 games, we showed that we could play any team in the league, and the other teams were respecting us when we skated onto the ice.”

“We were thinking of the future with this year’s club. We were looking to put together a nucleus of eight or nine players that we can build upon in the future.”

“We started with 20 players and we finished with 20 players. I felt the commitment was there from start to finish and when we stuck to our game plan we could play with anyone”

“The kids were very disappointed in the last game. You could see it on their faces.”

“Deep down I am happy with what we achieved this year and I think the organization is happy with the kids. We have some young players, but these kids all love the game and they all want to play.”

“I am very happy with the players we had. They were at the games, they were at the practices and they were proud to wear the Morrisburg jackets.”

“Thom and I had backing from management and from the players. It was a good year.”