By Pascal Laliberté
On Saturday, the Vankleek Hill Cougars celebrated their 25th anniversary home opener in a big way by taking care of their rivals, the St-Isidore Eagles with a 6-2 win. Vankleek Hill was on the attack throughout this game. The first period saw the Cougars dominate the shot clock but it didn’t show on the scoreboard. A few unsuccessful power plays and strong play from the Eagles goaltender resulted in a 1-0 lead for the cougars after one period. Max Emond scored his forth on a Tyler Dopelhamer rebound.
Second period was similar but the Cougars were more opportunistic and scored two quick goals early to take a 3-0 lead. Riley Sauvé and Charles Doyon each scored one of the goals. St-Isidore was able to squeak one past Vassall towards the end of the second to make it 3-1 going into the third period.
St-Isidore came back in the third to try to make this a game but Sam Founier had other plans when he scored a beautiful goal on the power play to make it 4-1 at the 13-minute mark. The Eagles quickly replied with one of their own but that was it for them. Vincent Huneault and Max Emond (2) with back to back goals closed the books on this excellent night for the Vankleek Hill players.
The Cougars held a tailgate party before the game. Many kids showed up to enjoy the blow up castle. Over 200 fans were on hand to watch the game in the stands and at the bar upstairs.
The wheels come off on Friday
The Cougars were at the Bob Guertin arena Friday night to face off with the Gatineau Hull Volant. It was a huge test for the Cougars as the Hull Volant won their opening game by a score of 8-1 vs the Rockland Nats. Charles Doyon gave an early 1-0 lead to the Cougars. Cougar’s goalie Brennan Nadeau multiplied the saves to keep VKH in the game. Max Emond made it a 2-0 game. It could’ve been 3-0 when Tyler Druce scored on the power play, the linesman refused the goal. This seemed to get Gatineau going and they scored one to end the period 2-1 in favour of the Cougars. The second period saw both teams exchanging multiple chances. If it weren’t for goalie Nadeau, it would’ve been a different game. He kept the Cougars in and the period ended 4-4. Tyler Druce and Marc Antoine Doyon scored the goals. It was all downhill from there. Gatineau scored two quick goals at the start of the third and Vankleek Hill couldn’t regroup. They outshot the Cougars, scoring many power play goals and in the end, it was a 10-4 loss.
