The LNAH’s Laval Predateurs and Saint-Georges Cool-FM don’t seem to like each other very much. Coming into the game, Saint-Georges had won five straight games against Laval this season. Before the puck even dropped, Laval wanted to send a message.
Whether or not the warm-up brawl sent a message, the Predateurs finally made it to the winning side of the ledger against Saint-Georges.
Sunday’s game ended in a 6-3 win for Laval that saw seven goals scored in a back-and-forth third period. After falling behind 0-3, Saint-Georges rallied to tie the game. Two minutes later Mathieu Leduc put Laval back ahead for good as they scored three straight to double up Saint-Georges.
This is actually from Sunday’s game, despite looking like a scene straight out of Slap Shot
The teams combined for 114 penalty minutes – not a surprising total for a penalty-filled league like the LNAH.
Sorel-Tracy’s Sebastien Laferriere led the league with 305 PIM in 32 games last season, which works out to 9.5 minutes per game. In comparison, Dave Schultz of the Philadelphia Flyers averaged 6.2 penalty minutes per game in his NHL-record 472-PIM season.
The New York Times reported that the league averaged 3.2 fights per game as compared with 0.6 per game in the NHL. “When I played in Verdun,” Joel Thériault of the Thetford Mines told the Times back in 2011, “we had a team rule never to give less than five fights a night.”
Referees for the game were Robert Chamberland (#30), a veteran of 19-years in the LNAH and one of the league’s most senior officials, and Maxime Jacques (#11). Linesmen were David Robichaud (#51) and Steve Venne (#73).
Desite all the gloves dropped and punches thrown, only one penalty was handed out prior to puck drop. Laval’s Chris Cloutier (#24) was tagged with a minor.
A History of Violence
So what set off this pre-game battle? When these two teams last met back in December, they finished with a game-ending brawl.
Looks like things picked up right where they left off… and that’s where they’ll stop. The two teams won’t meet again this season. They’ll have to wait until next season to rekindle this rivalry.
