Cougars offence on fire in back-to-back wins

December 3, 2014 · 0 Comments

Cougars goaltender Taylor Ewart made 23 saves on 26 shots in Saturday’s 6-3 win over the Erin Shamrocks.
Photo by Jake Courtepatte

By Jake Courtepatte
The Junior C Schomberg Cougars’ roller coaster of a season continues, this week with an uphill climb after a pair of wins has them clawing back up the GMOHL standings.
After dropping three games in a row the Cougars hosted the last-place Midland Flyers at the Trisan Centre Thursday, who were coming off an 8-2 trouncing of the Orillia Terriers earlier in the week – only their sixth win of the season.
This night would be a much closer match up, with neither team gaining more than a one-goal lead.
Less than four minutes in, Schomberg goaltender Luke Gamoyda was beat shorthanded by the Flyers Evan Buehler, one of the few shining lights of the Midland squad.
Despite their position in the standings, Buehler leads all players with 39 points in 22 games.
Schomberg’s Nathan Sinclair has had his own success as of late, tying the game at one at the mid-way point of the first period.
Only joining the team in late October, Sinclair has notched seven points in his last seven games.
From there it was a game of cat-and-mouse until the final minutes of the game, with the Cougars matching each Flyers goal shortly after.
Down 4-3 with only five minutes to play, defenceman Brandon Yorke showed why he is the team’s top scorer by capitalizing on a 5-on-3 to once again square up the score.
Derek Neilly put the Cougars on top for the first time all game less than two minutes later with his first goal in almost two months, a lead they would hold on to until the final buzzer.
Gamoyda had a solid outing for the Cougars, allowing four goals on 37 shots faced.
Ten Cougars players made the score sheet in an overall team effort.

Sharmrocks wilt

Saturday’s match against Erin almost seemed as if the Shamrocks were looking to give the points away. Early penalty trouble cost them the early lead, and plagued them throughout a game were the Cougars had an extra man almost more often than not.
In total, the Shamrocks racked up 62 minutes in penalties, giving the Cougars 14 power plays.
John Gage, Blake Culley, Joseph Mete, Neilly and Yorke all had multi-point games in what ended as a 6-3 win for the Cougars.
With only five games under his belt this season, Justin Formenton earned his second goal in as many games.
This time it was Taylor Ewart picking up the win, his sixth of the season.
The 2014-2015 season has been an unpredictable one for the Cougars, riding a number of winning and losing streaks but ultimately maintaining position in the middle of the Georgian Mid-Ontario Hockey League standings.
After a relatively week schedule to end November, the Cougars are in tough this week with a home-and-home match up against the first-place Alliston Hornets.
The Hornets visit the Trisan Centre Thursday, before the Cougars head north to New Tec. Rec. on Friday.
For stats, schedules, and more information, visit www.schombergcougars.com.