Cougars bounce back to lead series

February 11, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Jeff Doner
After losing the opening game of their first round playoff series against the Caledon Golden Hawks, the Schomberg Cougars Jr. C hockey club rebounded last week with three consecutive wins.
After winning games two and three on Thursday and Sunday nights, the Cougars rubbed a little salt in the Caledon’s wounds by trouncing them 7-0 on home ice on Monday night.
Now up 3-1 in the series, the Cougars are looking to eliminate the Golden Hawks from the playoffs in game five at home on Thursday night.
Their game two win was even more special, as it marked the first playoff win for the Cougars in five years.
“This is the first time we’ve won a playoff game in about five years, so if we can win the series, that’s way better than just winning that first one,” said veteran goalie Taylor Ewart after posting a shutout on Monday night. “It’s been tough the last three years. Last year against Stayner, every game was a one goal game, so this is awesome.”

Game two victory

The series came back to the Trisan Centre in Schomberg for game two, with the Cougars looking to even up the series.
The first period saw some back and forth play between the two teams, but defenseman Justin Formenton, who has been huge for the Cougars in the playoffs thus far, gave his team a 1-0 lead on the power play with a shot from the point.
The Golden Hawks tied things up right away, but just a minute later the Cougars responded again, this time on a goal by Blake Culley.
Up 2-1 to start the second, the Cougars used a solid second period to pad their lead. Colton Wood scored less than a minute in, while Formenton added his second power play goal of the game and Kiefer McIntosh added another to put the Cougars up 5-1.
Caledon scored two more goals to start the third period, but John Gage and Mitch Safaric each added insurance goals to deliver a 7-3 win.
Wood finished the game with a goal and three helpers, while Formenton chipped in two goals and four points from the backend.
“I think it was capitalizing on our power plays mostly, we’ve had a lot of them and it was good to finally bury them and get some more goals on the power play as well as just walk away from the dirty stuff,” Formenton said.
“Every time we play a full 60-minute game, I think we can beat any team in this league. It’s those moments like near the end when we let in a couple goals we need to work on.”
The players were not oblivious to the fact that it was the first playoff win for the Cougars in five years and took it as a small victory that’s part of a larger goal.
“It feels great, especially for a lot of the vets that have been here for a while,” said Culley. “It’s good to get a win for them. It’s good for our confidence and we know we can win going into game three.”

Hard-fought game three win

Game three turned out to be a bit more of a challenge for the Cougars in what turned out to be a bit of a nail biter on Sunday night.
After one period of play the Cougars found themselves down 3-2. Christian Muenz and McIntosh scored for Schomberg.
The two teams then traded goals in the second period to keep the Cougars down a goal heading into the final 20 minutes of play.
But three straight goals to start the third and one right off the hop by Nicholas Chaykowsky on the power play spurred the Cougars to forge ahead. McIntosh and Formenton added the two other Schomberg goals.
Caledon scored to pull to within one, but the Cougars held on for a hard-fought 6-5 win.
Earlier in the week, Culley preached the Cougars mantra of staying disciplined and out of the penalty box, something that hasn’t come easy for the Cougars against a chippy Caledon club.
“We can definitely get a bit better with our discipline, but comparing this game to game one, we have definitely taken it up a notch. We weren’t chirping back and we were playing our game,” he said.
“It’s kind of cliché, but whenever we go into the box it always ruins our momentum, so we kept it going and got some power play goals there, which was good.”

Cougars on a roll

With the series coming back to Schomberg for the next two games, the Cougars smelled blood and hoped to strike again on Monday night.
McIntosh and Wood got things off to a good start, each potting first period goals for the Cougars.
After five more unanswered goals in the second and third periods, the Cougars came out on top 7-0, giving them a chance to eliminate the Golden Hawks in game five on Thursday night.
Wood and Egerton ended up with two goals each, while Gage registered three assists on the evening.
Ewart made some big stops in net during the odd Caledon attack in a bid to hold on to his first Jr. C playoff shutout.
After the game he said he was pleased with the way his team has rebounded from game one.
“All four lines are doing great and we’re getting points from all six defensemen. Everyone’s doing a good job right now,” he said.
“It was good tonight. We stayed out of the box until the last period there, but they play a physical and we didn’t retaliate. That’s how we’ve won before and we know we’ve got to keep doing it.”
For game five, Ewart said the Cougars will need to continue to keep their composure and put their nose to the grindstone.
Game five puck drop will happen at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday night at the Trisan Centre.
For more information, visit http://jrccougars.pointstreaksites.com.