Matthew Brown

The National Capital Junior Hockey League seems to have a new breed of Cougars in its midst.

An onslaught of changes made to the team's roster by head coach Marc Berniqué and his staff over the last few weeks has certainly produced results.

While the National Capital Junior Hockey League was on hiatus over the holiday season, the Vankleek Hill Cougars coaching staff was busy behind the scenes making a variety of changes.

Perhaps the biggest change to the Cougars roster is the lack of the team's top point getter, Pier-Olivier Poulin, who requested his release from the team in order to pursue a future with the Alexandria Glens of the Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey League.

The Vankleek Hill Cougars rang in the new year with a convincing 5-1 victory over the North Dundas Rockets. Cougars head coach Marc Berniqué was content with his team's performance in their defensive zone throughout the game and was proud to see his team play some inspired hockey.

"Our guys played more inspired hockey and were able to put together a good 60 minutes of hockey," he said.

The Vankleek Hill Cougars seem to have made a home for themselves in the basement of the National Capital Junior Hockey League (NCJHL) standings.

The team currently sits in seventh place in the nine-team league and after losing both games this past weekend, head coach Marc Berniqué is simply stunned.

The Vankleek Hill Cougars held their heads up high after adding another win to their mediocre record on Saturday evening.

But despite two consecutive wins under their belts, head coach Marc Berniqué says his team and its offensive talent "has not played up to its potential" this season.

The National Capital Junior Hockey League basement is not a place where the Vankleek Hill Cougars feel that they deserve to be.

After a convincing win in Papineauville on Sunday, November 6, the team appears to be on its way to climbing up the standings.

The Cougars came out strong against the Vikings, taking a 4-1 lead after the first period and winning the game by a final score of 6-3.

After being outscored 11-3 in two one-sided losses this weekend, Marc Berniqué was quick to pinpoint what he thinks the main problem is.

"Our players seem to think that they can just turn it on and off whenever they want to," said the team's head coach. "As the game progresses, they seem to get away from the system that we, the coaches, have been teaching them."

Players from the eight teams in the National Capital Junior Hockey League (NCJHL) faced off against each other in the league's all-star game on Sunday, February 20 at the Vankleek Hill Arena.

The expansion team, featuring players from La Peche, Rockland, Gatineau and Papineauville, played the original team, with players from Embrun, Vankleek Hill, St-Isidore and Cumberland. The expansion team won 8-5.

Glengarry-Prescott-Russell Progressive Conservative candidate Marilissa Gosselin and MPP Randy Hillier visited Vankleek Hill on Saturday, February 5 to discuss their political agenda with the party's local supporters.

The visit to Beau's All-Natural Brewery was part of a fundraising campaign for Gosselin, a first-time candidate who will run against the Ontario Liberal Party's candidate in the provincial election this coming October.