Cougars split games, remain tied in second place

January 14, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Jeff Doner
With just five games remaining in the season, the Junior C Schomberg Cougars are tied for second place with the Alliston Hornets with 51 points in the GMOJCHL standings.
Last week the Cougars split decisions, tallying a 4-2 win over the Huntsville Otters before being downed 7-6 by the first place Penetang Kings on Friday.
Joel Wright played his first game as an officially signed Cougar against the Otters on Thursday night.
“I felt good,” he said after the game. “The coach was playing me a fair bit. I was throwing the body like I’m supposed to and I was getting my job done, so I thought I did my part to get the win and I think the whole team played well.”
He said stepping in from playing juvenile has been a big change.
“It’s a big step I find. I played minor midget AAA last year for South Central, so coming up to here it feels like a big step and I’m just happy I got the chance to play here.”
Despite having to miss the next game against Penetang after being handed a checking from behind game misconduct late in the game, head coach Jim Egerton thought Wright played well.
“He’s young, full of energy and is definitely a big body out there for a 16-year-old,” Egerton said. “He likes to take the body, he can skate, he’s got a pretty good shot and he can find the net, but I think his role on the team is going to be a checker who goes out and bangs around.”
Huntsville got on the board first, but the Cougars woke up starting with Nicholas Chaykowsky’s power play goal. By the end of the first, the Cougars would carry a 2-1 lead after JP Crescenzi scored an even strength goal.
John Gage and Kiefer McIntosh added goals of their own in the second period to extend the Cougars lead and eventually give them a 4-2 victory.
Garett Taylor made 16 saves or the win.
“We came off pretty strong, but then we took a penalty, got into a bit of trouble and they scored a goal,” said McIntosh.
“We played hard as a team; we moved the puck well and got some pucks through. It should have been a higher scoring game than it was, but the goalies played great and theirs stopped a lot of shots.”

Kings edge Cougars

On Friday night the Cougars wanted to keep playing competitive hockey against the Kings.
It started off well, as the Cougars were up 3-0 after the first. Spenser Jones, Colton Wood and Declan Lampe scored those goals, but things went downhill in the second.
“You couldn’t ask for a better start,” Egerton said. “We were sticking to the game plan and everything was great and there were a couple of missed called on them resulted in a couple of goals against us … next thing you know we’re down 6-3.”
Penetang scored six straight goals in the second, before captain Christian Muenz scored another for the Cougars to make it 6-4.
“We collapsed in the second period for a while there, but when you look at the score sheet, they had 14 power plays and we had five and a lot of them were questionable … so it was a little frustrating and we kind of lost our cool a little bit.”
Egerton said if his club had a few more minutes in the third period, they could have won.
Blake Culley scored two goals less than a minute apart in the final two minutes of the game, but the Cougars ended up losing 7-6.
“Hopefully we can bring that third period over to the game Thursday against Caledon because they’ve obviously turned it around and have won a couple in a row, so we’ll have to be ready for them. They’re not too far behind us right now.”
That game will be on Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. at the Trisan Centre.
For more information on the Cougars, visit http://jrccougars.pointstreaksites.com.