DUCLAIR SCORES TWO IN THIRD, LIONS WIN BRONZE

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Anthony Duclair broke a 3-3 tie with 2:34 to go and added an insurance goal into an empty net with 1.1 seconds on the clock as the Lions du Lac St-Louis claimed the bronze medal at the 2011TELUS Cup with a 5-3 win over the Vancouver North West Giants on Sunday morning.

The medal is the sixth in as many trips to the National Midget Championship for the Lions, who won gold in1981, 1985 and 1992, and took home bronze in 1984 and 1991. The Giants lost the bronze medal game to a team from Quebec for the second time in five years; they fell to the Blizzard du Séminaire Saint-François in2007.

Despite returning to the ice at Mile One Centre just 12 hours after losing their semifinal to the LondonJr. Knights in overtime, the Giants jumped on the Lions early, scoring twice on the power play – both off tip-ins by Jackson Houck – in the first period to take a 2-0 lead to the intermission.

Another power play goal just 2:02 into the second period, this one from TELUS Cup MVP Alex Kerfoot, made it a 3-0 game early in the second, and the Giants looked to be on their way to B.C.’s first medal at thetournament since the North Kamloops Lions won bronze in 1996.

Vancouver’s power play finished 18 for 38 (47.4%) in the tournament, with Kerfoot, Houck and tournamentTop Forward Sam Reinhart combining for 16 of the 18 goals with the man advantage.

Alexandros Soumakis kick-started the Lac St-Louis comeback with a goal just 2:45 after Kerfoot’s marker,and goals from Maxim Côté and Walsh pulled the Lions even before the horn sounded to end the second period.

The game seemed destined for overtime as both teams traded chances without success in the third period, but Duclair put Lac St-Louis ahead to stay at 17:26 of the final frame, driving to the net and redirecting a pass from Walsh past Daniel Cotton.

The winning goal put the cap on an impressive year for Duclair, who helped Quebec reach the bronze medalgame at the 2011 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in January as an underager, and won silver with Quebec at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in February.