Cougars hot on the heels of league leaders

October 29, 2013 · 0 Comments

By Jeff Doner

The Junior C Schomberg Cougars have continued their torrid pace in the early portion of the season schedule and have kept pace with the league’s top teams.
Last week the Cougars earned three of four possible points with a commanding 10-0 win over the Midland Flyers on Thursday night, and a 4-3 overtime loss to the first place Penetang Kings on Friday.
Through 15 games this season, the Cougars now find themselves just three points out of first place with 22 points behind Alliston (23 points) and Penetang (25 points).
“We’re happy with our overall offensive output,” said assistant coach Doug Taylor. “We’re starting to play with a lot more discipline, now we just have to kind of tighten up the defensive side of our game and learn how to play with a lead at the end of the game. But we’re happy with the direction we’re going for sure.”

Shutout over Midland

On Thursday night at the Trisan Centre the Cougars showed why they are on their way to becoming one of the league’s top teams with a big win over Midland.
Team captain Christian Muenz, who has caught fire as of late, managed to score four goals and three assists in the game. One was on the power play and one shorthanded.
“It feels amazing,” he said after his seven-point performance. “It has been a while since I have scored four goals in a game, so it’s good and we got the win, which is even better.”
Also contributing to the offensive outburst were John Gage (a goal and six assists), Blake Culley (two goals and four assists) and Brandon Falsarella (a goal and an assist). Declan Lampe and defenceman Nicholas Chaykowsky also added goals for the Cougars.
Not forgotten was goalie Taylor Ewart, who came out on top with a shutout for Schomberg, stopping 19 shots.
“Taylor played great,” said Muenz. “His rebound control and everything has been great. He played an overall great game, which earned him the shutout.”
It was Ewart’s fifth win of the season and the veteran goalie said it felt good to help his team nail down another win.
“It felt good,” he said. “It was my first one of the year and I’ve only had a handful of those in my career, so it’s kind of rare, but it feels really good.”
After two losses in the same week to Caledon, Ewart said it was important for his team to get right back in the win column.
“It was good to bounce back here. First time we’ve ever scored 10 goals, in a couple years at least,” he said. “We’ve gotten even better since the beginning and I think we’re going to continue to get better and hopefully stay at the top.”

Overtime loss

Looking to gain ground on the first place Kings, the Cougars pounced early in the game to take a 2-0 lead in the first. Muenz continued his goal scoring streak, scoring both Schomberg goals in the opening frame.
By the end of the second, the score was 3-1 in favour of the visiting Cougars, but it would be all Penetang in the third as they tied the score to send the game into overtime with a 3-3 score.
Overtime didn’t bode well for the Cougars, as Penetang struck quickly to steal the win just 41 seconds in.
Although he was tagged with the loss, Ewart had a strong outing, making 34 saves.
“We had good momentum going and got on top of them quickly, but it was just at the end of the game that we made a couple of mistakes that they capitalized and scored on,” Taylor said in assessment of his team. “It’s going back to the idea of having to play with a lead and keep it.”
Although happy with the way his team is playing, Taylor said there are still things that need to be worked on if the Cougars hope to remain on an upward trajectory.
“As a team we have to keep getting better,” he said. “We can’t just be happy with what we’ve done so far. We have to keep learning our positions and plays. It would be nice to tighten up, but we’ve just got to keep growing as a team. There’s still a long season ahead of them.”
The Cougars won’t be at home this week, as they will visit Stayner on Thursday night and Orillia on Saturday. However, you can follow the team’s progress online at http://jrccougars.pointstreaksites.com.
Their next home game will be against Huntsville on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 8:30 p.m.