And now the NCJHL playoffs begin
Beating the Morrisburg Lions earned the Vankleek Hill Cougars their spot in the playoffs series in the National Capital Junior Hockey League.
Now the Cougars are trading wins and losses with the North Dundas Rockets after the weekend opening round of scheduled elimination series leading up to the league finals. The Saint-Isidore Aigles and the Clarence Creek Castors are enjoying success so far, after their first two games against their opposing teams, the Cumberland Bandits and the Gatineau Hull-Volant.
The Cougars sent the Lions packing for the season, after taking the preliminary playoffs elimination series of two games that the National Capital Junior Hockey League’s (NCJHL) executives decided to schedule, to determine which clubs would occupy the seventh- and eighth-place berths in the league’s playoff series.
The February 20 match in Morrisburg saw the Cougars outroar the Lions 10-5 on their own home ice, then pull off a three-all tie the following night in Vankleek Hill. That was enough to send the Cougars into the first round of the NCJHL playoff series against the North Dundas Rockets for the start of a best-of-seven set of games.
After the February 24 weekend, the tally is two games for North Dundas and one for En battant les Lions de Morrisburg, les Cougars de Vankleek Hill ont gagné leur place dans les séries éliminatoires de la Ligue de hockey junior de la capitale nationale. Les Cougars ont échangé des victoires et des défaites avec les North Dundas Rockets, à la suite du weekend d’ouverture des séries éliminatoires, prévues avant les finales de la ligue. Les Aigles de Saint-Isidore et les Castors de Clarence Creek ont connu le succès lors de leurs deux premiers matchs contre leurs adversaires, les Bandits de Cumberland et le Hull-Volant de Gatineau. Vankleek Hill, with both teams earning their wins on home ice.
The first weekend of March has three more games on the schedule with the Cougars hosting the Rockets Friday night at the Vankleek Hill Arena, then off to Chesterville Saturday night for the fifth game of the series. Results of those two games will decide if the Rockets return to Vankleek Hill Sunday afternoon for another rematch with the Cougars.
The Eagles and the Castors
The St-Isidore Eagles and the Clarence Creek Castors each enjoyed a pair of wins over the weekend against their opponents in the league’s first elimination round series.
The Eagles got the drop 4-2 and 5-3 against the Cumberland Bandits with the next game in their series February 28 in Cumberland, followed by the Eagles hosting the fourth game March 1. They head back to Cumberland on March 3, and then will hostthe fifth game if needed in the series March 4. The schedule then has Cumberland for a sixth match if that also proves necessary.
The Castors clipped Gatineau 3-2 in both games of the series so far. The schedule has the third game February 27 in Gatineau and on March 2, and in Clarence Creek Sunday if that proves necessary.