Blood, sweat and tears as Cougars fight to leave the NCJHL basement

Although the Cougars currently sit eighth in the National Capital Junior Hockey League (NCJHL) standings, the team continues to demonstrate its ability to leave that basement - despite a dismal record thus far.

The Cougars started their weekend in La Peche, Quebec, where they faced off against Les Predateurs on Friday night. In what has become a regular occurrence so far this season, the team got off to a slow start and would trail by two goals after the first period.

The players redeemed themselves by scoring three goals in the middle frame and only surrendering one, evening up the score at 3-3 with one period left to play.

Although the Cougars were able to muster a single goal in the third period, La Peche would do one better and end up taking the game by a final score of 5-4. Yannick Boudrias, Christopher McPeak, Nicolas Pharand and Pier-Olivier Poulin all put forth two-point efforts, while Andrew Charlebois and Alex Cournoyer added single points.

Returning home on Saturday night, the Cougars welcomed the league's highest-scoring team in the Embrun Panthers, a game which many thought would be a strong measuring point for the young Cougars team.

Cougars goaltender Maxime Bédard proved to be a thorn in the Panthers side as he turned away almost everything its players threw at him, leading the opposition to crash the crease on every opportunity.

Vankleek Hill's defencemen were quick to come to the aide of their netminder in the third period, ultimately leading to Jimmy Berniquez engaging in a spirited tilt with a Panthers forward.

The Cougars won the fight but Embrun continued to put pressure on Bédard - and defenceman Brandon Taillon took exception. Engaging in a lengthy fight, Taillon was eventually escorted off the ice with an open wound and blood dripping down his face.

"There will be suspensions regarding the fights," said head coach Marc Berniqué. "But we won't know the exact number of games until our game in Papineauville on Sunday."

After each team saw two players ejected due to multiple fights that broke out late in the third period, the horn would sound signally the end of regulation time with the score knotted at two goals each. Overtime would solve nothing and, for the first time this season, the Cougars' fate rested in a shootout.

After the first five shooters, the teams were tied with three goals each - Vankleek Hill's goals coming from Poulin, McPeak and Cournoyer. Neither team would give an inch as the seesaw battle would eventually go to sudden death shooters.

Vankleek Hill's Cody Kelly completely undressed the Panthers goaltender, giving his team a one-goal lead in the shootout - and Bédard the chance to make the game-winning stop. Unfortunately, he was beaten by the Panthers' shooter by a seeing-eye shot to his blocker side.

After two Cougars misses and two incredible saves by Bédard, the game sat on the stick on Embrun's Matt Eberley. He finally solved Bédard, leaving the Cougars' last chance with Pharand.

As he approached the Panthers goaltender, however, Pharand lost control of the puck and was unable to recover in time, giving Embrun a 3-2 victory.

"This game is proof that the Vankleek Hill Cougars belong in the top three teams of this league," exclaimed Berniqué. "It was a great game and I am extremely proud of our guys and the way that they played."

The Cougars struck first blood that night when Poulin found the back of the net on an early power play with 8:06 left in the opening frame. McPeak and Karl Walcott assisted on the goal.

The Panthers continued to put pressure on the Cougars defence and despite a very strong period by goaltender Maxime Bédard, Embrun found the back of the net twice and took a 2-1 lead into the dressing room at the end of the first period.

Vankleek Hill continued their aggressive, physical style of play in the second period, making the Panthers work for every inch of ice. The hard work would pay off for the Cougars with just over five minutes left in the period when Charlebois tipped a pass from Walcott passed the outstretched Panthers goaltender, evening the score 2-2.

"Karl Walcott played a very solid game," pointed out Berniqué. "Maxime Bédard and our newest defenseman Gabriel Leblanc also put forth very strong efforts tonight."