CORNWALL, Ontario – The Sorel Eperviers spoiled the party Saturday night, beating the Cornwall River Kings 4-2 in front of local hockey legends at the Ed Lumley Arena.
After a red carpet ceremony honouring the 2004-2006 Cornwall Comets, the Eperviers won the first in a series of four straight matches with the River Kings.
Fan favourites returning to home ice included Pat Allard, Paul Shantz, Mathieu Raby, Denis Lamoureux, Pat Deraspe, Alain Quenneville, Corey Payment, Ken McLeod, Melvin Pyke, assistant coach Paul Quenneville, coach Pierre Rochefort, and original owner Joel Lapalme. During the first intermission, there was a meet and greet with the players.
First-place Sorel’s Stephane Roy opened the scoring at 4:08 of the second period.
Etienne Brodeur made it 2-0 with a breakaway goal at 8:36 of the middle frame.
Nik Pokulok responded with 6:39 to play in the second for the River Kings.
Sorel’s Marco Charpentier found the back of the net on the powerplay 22 seconds into the third to put the Eperviers ahead 3-1.
Cornwall’s Jason Lepine scored 5:54 into the third, but the River Kings never bounced back.
The Eperviers added a late empty netter to secure the win.
River Kings enforcer Curtis Tidball slugged it out twice with Sorel’s David Lacroix.
There were 1,708 fans in attendance at the civic complex.
Sorel outshot Cornwall 22-21.
Charpentier (first), Anthony Courcelles (second) and Roy were the announced stars.
The two clubs are back in action Feb. 13 at 8 p.m. at the Colisee Cardin.
The River Kings have now lost six straight games and are in the eight-team league’s basement.
David Masse scored a powerplay goal in overtime to give the Predateurs a 5-4 victory over Cornwall on Friday (Feb. 6) in Laval. Courcelles had a pair of goals for the River Kings, while Pierre-Luc Faubert added a single marker. Michael Tessier and Julien Corriveau each chipped in a pair of assists.
