TWO WINS FOR THE COUGARS TO START OFF THE NEW YEAR
The Vankleek Hill Cougars are off to a great start of the season with two wins.
First game was on Saturday, January 4, and the Saint-Isidore Eagles were in the Cougars’ Den. In the first period, noted Coach Franky Dopelhamer, it felt “somewhat like the team was still on holidays. Mistakes were made and that gave the Eagles lots of opportunities.”
The Vankleek Hill’s goalie Frederic Durocher was very solid in the net and kept the score 1-1 till the end of the period.
“The second period was a lot better,” said Dopelhamer. “The team played with more confidence and didn’t turn the puck over as they did in the first period.” The score came to a tie again at 2-2.
By the third period, the boys had their legs moving faster and they were able to hit the target five times for an 8-5 final score. The Player of the Game nomination was given to Samuel Lemay. With two more goals, he leads the league with 27 goals in 22 games.
“It helps when all the lines contribute to the scoring and this was one of those times; 12 different players were on the score sheet,” said Dopelhamer.
Goalscorers for the game were Lemay (2), Nic Castonguay, Vincent Huneault, Zack Leblanc, Tristan Lavoie (1G, 1A), Max Rozon (1G, 1A) and Stamatis Skotidakis.
The second game ended with a 6-1 victory, Sunday, January 5, in West Carleton. It was a total dominance by the Cougars from start to finish. Dopelhamer noted that after watching Canada win gold over Russia in the World Junior Championships at the arena sports bar, the players were motivated to do as good as Team Canada and keep the wins coming.
The Player of the Game nominatiion was Nik Wilson. Jonathan Lacroix got a hat trick with three goals and an assist.
Nic Castonguay (1G, 2A), Keean McEachern (1G, 1A), and Tristan Lavoie hit the mark as well to round out the final score for the night.