The Newfoundland Growlers host the Trois-Rivières Lions for a three-game all-Canadian clash this weekend beginning on Friday night at Mary Brown’s Centre.Newfoundland welcomed the Reading Royals to town this past week for a three-game set where they won 4-2 last Wednesday in the series opener before falling 3-1 on Friday and 4-2 on Saturday — their first back-to-back losses of the season.
Trois-Rivières come into St. John’s the hottest team in the ECHL, winners of six straight contests. After sweeping the Royals in three straight meetings at Colisée Vidéotron between November 24 and 27, the Lions followed up that impressive home stand by sweeping the Florida Everblades in a trio of road victories.
These two teams met on three occasions to open the season, all in Trois-Rivières and all with the same outcome, a Growlers victory. With Newfoundland looking to bounce back after dropping two straight games last weekend, they’ll hope their prior dominance over the red-hot Lions continues here on home ice.
Puck drops is set for 7:00 pm NL time on Friday and Saturday evening while Sunday is a matinee start at 4:00 pm. Growlers fans can watch all three games live on FloSports (subscription required), listen to the call on Mixlr, or follow along on Twitter (@NLGrowlers) for game updates and highlights.
WHO TO WATCH:
NFL – Riley McCourt (D): One of the notable bright spots from the Growlers recent dropped series was the play of McCourt on the back end. With Matteo Pietroniro and Brennan Kapcheck called up to the Toronto Marlies, the 21-year-old defenseman could see a major boost in minutes this weekend, both at even strength and on the power play.TR – Olivier Archambault (F): Archambault is a big reason the Lions have turned things around of late, leading all Trois-Rivières skaters with 20 points through 17 games played. With an emphasis on extending their ongoing win streak, the former Montreal Canadiens pick will be crucial this weekend against the Growlers.