Clarence Castors hold on to fourth place
One more week left in the regular schedule for junior C hockey in Eastern Ontario. For the St-Isidore Eagles, it has been not just a good season but maybe even a great one.
“It’s a good season,” said Pierre Bourgon, Eagles’ general manager, during a February 12 phone interview. “It’s a real difference from last year. It’s a great turnaround.”
The St-Isidore junior C team finished at the bottom of the standings in the 2016-2017 season of the National Capital Junior Hockey League (NCJHL). This season, the Eagles are sinking their talons into the Cumberland Bandits and the North Dundas Rockets for the third-place spot in the final standings, as the mid-February end of the regular season nears.
Bourgon thinks that a 5-4 loss to the Bytown Royals, last Friday night, may have slipped the Eagles down to fourth place. He is optimistic that this Sunday’s home game against the Rockets will let St-Isidore move back up again in the standings, and let the club finish with a chance at third overall for the regular season.
“We have a very solid coaching staff,” Bourgon affirmed, regarding the Eagles’ strength this season, “and we also have four very strong 21-year-old players.”
Bourgon noted that one of the Eagles’ lead shooters, Maxime Choquette, has punched in 46 goals so far this season and has a good chance of making the golden 50-goal mark for the season.
Vankleek Hill Cougars
Mario Messier, president of the Vankleek Hill Cougars club, is also optimistic about his team’s chance of being in the upper half of the NCJHL’s playoffs list of teams. The Cougars are just below the mid-level of the regular season standings right now but they clipped the Cumberland Bandits 7-6 in overtime, at home, over the February 10 weekend.
“That’s one of the top teams in the league,” Messier said. “So we should finish the season strong, at least at .500.”
Messier noted that the biggest handicap for the Cougars this season was the loss of several top players from last year. The main reason is that those players now attend school, either university or college in Ottawa, and now lack either the time or the incentive for long commutes back to Vankleek Hill, for either practices or games.
Clarence Creek Castors
Trouble getting enough players on the bench for games all of the time has also been the main problem for the Clarence Creek Castors, according to head coach Tim Kosch. But the team has managed to hold onto the fourth-place position in the NCJHL standings as the season end approaches, with their latest wins over the February 10 weekend against the Rockets and the South Grenville Rangers. “The leadership of the core players, that’s been essential,” explained Kosch, regarding the reasons for the Castors’ achievement this season. “Because a lot of times I’ve been playing a team without a full roster, often with just two lines to put on the ice, instead of three or four.”
Kosch said the Castors have proven themselves committed this season to playing their best, even when outnumbered on the ice.
“Some of the older players have been playing at least 40 minutes each game,” Kosch added. “All I ever ask from the guys is that they play from the heart.”
After a February 12 rematch with the Rangers, the Castors have two games left on their regular schedule. This Saturday on the road against the Bytown Royals, then Sunday afternoon at home against the Papineauville Vikings.
The Clarence Creek Castors have had a hard time getting more than two lines on the bench for their games all season. But the junior C club is still in fourth place in the league standings as the playoffs series approaches.