Three of four points not good enough for Cougars coach

While it may look good on paper, as the Vankleek Hill Cougars managed to accumulate three out of four points this past weekend, head coach Marc Berniqué is not entirely content with his team's performance.

The Cougars played back-to-back home games, beginning with their rivals from St-Isidore on Friday night.

"We started the game very strong," said Berniqué. "We fore-checked well, putting pressure on the opposing team's defense and creating turnovers."

The Cougars' quick start gave the team a 3-0 lead after the first 20 minutes and the strong play continued on for the better part of the second period. "We really took the play to St-Isidore and created many great scoring chances for ourselves," he said.

Nearing the end of the second period, the Cougars found themselves in penalty trouble. Drifting away from the game plan, the team eventually surrendered a goal, taking a 5-1 lead into the final frame.

"Our play in the third period was a totally different story from the first two periods," noted Berniqué. "We stopped skating and appeared to be on our heels throughout the entire period. St-Isidore turned things around and started taking the play to us."

The coach credits the strong play of goaltender Maxime Bédard for allowing the Cougars to hang on by the skin of their teeth and record a 5-4 victory.

"Maxime played a good game in nets for us," he said, adding that Karl Walcott and newly-acquired Jocelyn Lamarche also played well, each recording a goal and an assist in the win.

The next evening, the Cougars welcomed the Gatineau Express to the Cougars Den and didn't waste any time, taking a 1-0 lead after Marc-André Nantais scored less than 30 seconds into the game. Yannick Boudrias and Lamarche drew assists on the goal.

The Cougars' early lead was short-lived, however, as Gatineau would answer back 10 seconds later, evening the score before the one-minute mark of the opening frame.

Vankleek Hill would take back its one-goal lead after Nicolas Pharand found the back of the net with 2:40 remaining in the first period. Nantais and Jimmy Berniquez assisted on the goal.

Yet as the final seconds of the opening 20 minutes ticked off the scoreboard, a shot from a Gatineau defenseman found its way past Bédard and into the back of the Cougars net - mere seconds before the end of the first period.

In the second period, Vankleek Hill came out strong and regained their lead less than five minutes into the frame. A scramble in front of the Express goal resulted in a goal for Lamarche, assisted by Nantais and Boudrias.

The Cougars would add another goal nine seconds later after Sébastien Boucher fired a shot into the top corner on a clear-cut breakaway, giving his team a 4-2 lead. That outpouring of offence continued as Pier-Olivier Poulin scored with less than 13 minutes remaining in the period. Lamarche and Damien Charette drew assists on the goal.

Trailing 5-2, the Express decided to make a goaltending change. The move seemed to spark the team's offence, as it scored three unanswered goals in the second period.

"Gatineau only had 12 players," noted Berniqué. "We should have used our speed, pressured their defense with strong fore-checking and tired them out. However, we appeared to be the tired team."

With the score tied 5-5, Cougars defenceman Marc-André Nantais decided to take matters into his own hands - scoring an incredible goal after an end-to-end rush, giving his team the lead with 16:03 left in the game. Charette and Pharand assisted on the goal.

The Express would once again even up the score five minutes later, with Vankleek Hill on the power play. As the horn sounded, the score was deadlocked at 6-6. Both teams readied themselves for an overtime period.

But a tripping penalty from the Cougars' Lamarche with 2:19 left in the overtime frame proved costly: Gatineau pounced on a rebound and lifted the puck over a sprawled out Boucher, completing the comeback and securing a win for the visiting team.

"We played into Gatineau's hands tonight," insisted Berniqué, saying the Cougars did not lose the game but rather handed it to the Express with their complete lack of effort and discipline.

"For some reason we had no jump tonight," he said. "We were unable to sustain pressure, we gave them several odd man rushes and again, we got ourselves into penalty trouble."

Though his team did wrap up the weekend with three out of a possible four points, Berniqué pointed out some flaws in his team.

"In my opinion, some of our veterans definitely need to increase their intensity level, overall leadership and work on their will to win," he stressed. "They appear to be to complacent and lack the pride that they should feel playing for the Vankleek Hill Cougars junior hockey team.

"Our players need to get back to basics, take a long, hard look at themselves, and realize that it is a privilege to play junior hockey."

The Cougars' next home game will take place on Saturday, December 17 when the team welcomes the La Pêche Predateurs to the Cougars Den at 7:30 p.m. The team then travels to Rockland on Sunday, December 18, where it faces off against the Nationals in an afternoon match at 2:30 p.m.