Tough Start: Cornwall River Kings trail Marquis 2-0

Cornwall Ontairo – The defending champion Jonquière Marquis have jumped out to a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Cornwall River Kings.

The Marquis skated to a 4-1 victory on Saturday night at the Civic Complex in LNAH playoff action.

Hugo Carpentier opened the scoring at 6:50 of the first with Jonquière’s third shorthanded goal of the series. Carpentier, on a semi-breakaway, beat River Kings goaltender Loic Lacasse through the five-hole.

Dominic Léveillé gave the Marquis a 2-0 lead at 15:05 of the opening frame. Léveillé, left alone in front of Lacasse, tapped in a perfect feed from Marco Charpentier.

Jonquière took a 3-0 lead 5:50 into the second when Simon Laliberté beat Lacasse high glove side.

Dominic D’Amour’s blast from the point on the powerplay with 2:22 to play in the third broke Pier-Olivier Pelletier’s shutout bid. The Jonquière goaltender earned the win in goal with a 31-save performance.

Carpentier’s second of the game, an empty-netter with 1:34 to play, iced it for the Marquis.

Cornwall outshot Jonquière 32-25. The announced stars were Léveillé (first), Carpentier (second) and Pelletier.

The best-of-seven series resumes next Friday in Jonquière. Game 4 goes the following night (Saturday, March 29) at the Civic Complex.

GAME 1: At Jonquière on Friday night, Léveillé scored a natural hat trick to pace the Marquis to a 4-1 victory in front of 1,610 spectators. Jonquière scored two powerplay goals and added two shorthanded markers in the contest. Carpentier also scored for the Marquis, while Sasha Pokulok had the lone River Kings goal. Jonquière outshot Cornwall 35-24.