Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Outaouais Dragons U15 AA hockey team defeated opponents Outaouais Bisons 4-1 at a packed Shawville Arena on Saturday.
The Dragons AA team, made up of some of the best U15 players in the Western Outaouais region, includes four former Pontiac Lions players; Taytum Thompson, Pierce Rusenstrom, Colton Hines and Tristan Queale.
“It was a good game right till the end, they battled hard, it was a really good team effort,” said head coach Tim Thompson of Shawville.
“Play as a team, win as a team,” he added.
Defenseman Colton Hines said it “felt pretty good” to be playing on home ice for the first time with this team.
“We wanted to do this to show support for some of our players and coaches that were former Pontiac Lions. We also thought it would be a good way to bring the community together,” said Collin Hines, president of the Shawville & District Minor Hockey Association (SDMHA), which helped organize the Shawville game.
“An event like this, held at our home arena, gives our young Lions players an example of what hard work and dedication can bring to them as they navigate their way through their minor hockey careers,” Hines said.
Coach Thompson echoed Hines’ sentiment.
“We don’t have that calibre of hockey here,” he said. “It was a really big deal for the kids, even the kids who aren’t from Shawville were so excited to play this game.”
The Outaouais Dragons is one of 14 teams in the Ligue de hockey Laurentides Lanaudière.
Thompson explained that most of the other teams in the league are based out of the North Shore in Montreal, so while home games are played in Gatineau, most road games are in the Montreal area.
“It’s a lot of travelling,” he said, adding that the game had originally been scheduled to be played elsewhere, but the team made a special request that it be played in Shawville.

“It was great that Eric Labelle [Outaouais Bison’s coach] and his team were nice enough to come play one of our season games here,” Thompson said, adding that the team and players’ parents had gone for an “amazing” dinner at Hursty’s Bar and Grill afterwords.
“We’d love to be able to do it again this season,” Thompson said. “It was just a really good experience for all of them. It couldn’t have went any better.”
Out of the 14 games the Dragons have played this season, they’ve only lost one. They have 12 left to play.
“Hopefully we continue on the winning streak,” said Thompson, adding that while he is glad to see his team doing so well, the personal development of the players is more important to him than the team’s record.
“I like developing the kids to the best of their potential, I like to see them become better hockey players,” he said.
Thompson is one of the Dragons’ five coaches; the others include Craig Lavallee, Dan Perrault, Jason Quaele, and Ed Russenstrom. Each coach has a son playing on the team.