Cornwall River Kings win 4-3 but only 939 in attendance

Cornwall Ontario – Pete Karvouniaris backstopped the Cornwall River Kings to a thrilling 4-3 victory over the Saint-George Cool FM on Friday night.

Ther scoreboard was exciting, but there was also some great action on the ice.

River Kings fan-favourite Chris Cloutier and Alexandre Gauthier had a spirited bout only two seconds into the contest. The pair would settle their differences at the beginning of the third period.

Despite that, there were only 939 people reported in attendance. It is unusual for attendance to drop below the one thousand mark at a Cornwall River Kings game.

The River Kings, who trailed 2-0 midway through the second period, fought back to earn the victory in front of 939 fans at the Civic Complex.

Karvouniaris, the game’s first star, made 39 saves and was spectacular in the final moments of the contest.

Stephane Goulet opened the scoring for Saint-Georges, finishing off on a beautiful give-and-go at 14:48 of the first period.

The Cool FM went ahead 2-0 at 9:04 of the second when Jeremy Vigneault Belanger’s shot from the point trickled past Karvouniaris for a powerplay marker.

Thirty-three seconds later however, Nik Pokulok’s blast from the point started the River Kings comeback. Then, with 22 seconds left in the middle frame, Andre Sandrzyk scored an unassisted powerplay goal. With Hubert Morin down and out, Sandrzyk tucked a shot right under the crossbar to level the score.

Pierre-Luc Faubert gave the River Kings their first lead of the game 5:25 into the third. The hardworking Faubert converted on a nifty feed from Cornwall native Jason Lepine to finish off a tic-tac-toe play.

Jonathan Jasper of Williamstown then tipped a shot past Morin from the hashmarks to give the Kings a two-goal lead. But Maxime Gravel brought Saint-Georges to within a goal with 4:12 to play.

Karvouniaris took over from there. Cornwall killed off a penalty in the final two minutes of the game; Pete K was their best penalty killer. Saint-Georges outshot the River Kings 42-35.

Faubert (second) and J.P. Caron (third) were the other stars.