Cougars stay positive after heartbreaking loss

It was heartbreak for the Cougars and their fans at the Vankleek Hill Arena on Saturday night (March 23), but all hope is not yet lost.

Lois Flansberry scored at 6:10 of the second overtime, to send the Gatineau-Hull Volant to a hard-fought 5-4 win over the Cougars and a two games to none lead in the National Capital Junior Hockey League (NCJHL) final series. Zachary Bigras had two goals for Vankleek Hill, while Jérémy Marcotte and Malcolm Seguin added singles. Brayden Prevost took the loss in net for the Cougars.

“Last night was a full effort – it could have gone either way,” said a philosophical Cougars Head Coach Nicholas Pharand. “We felt like we deserved it, but in double overtime anything can happen.”

Despite the tough loss in a contest where the Cougars controlled a great deal of the play, Pharand noted the players can take a lot of positives from the game, which came on the heels of a 6-1 loss in Game 1 in Gatineau on Friday night.

“(Saturday’s game) shows that we can hang with those guys,” Pharand said. “We just need to get that one goal more.”

The biggest positive for the Cougars was the amazing fan support at the Vankleek Hill Arena, where the stands were absolutely packed, as they have been for all of the team’s playoff games. The atmosphere in the building was electric, with the crowd roaring each time a Cougars player touched the puck.

“I told the guys to enjoy it – it’s not every game you get to play in front of a crowd like that,” Pharand said of the fan support. “It means that everyone believes in us.”

That belief extends throughout the team’s dressing room. It won’t be easy to win four out of five games against a team that lost only two contests during the regular season, but the team’s head coach is confident the Cougars can do it, beginning with Game 3 in Gatineau this Friday (March 29).

“We need to go all out – it’s a must win game,” said Pharand of Friday’s contest at Centre Slush Puppie in Gatineau.

On Sunday, March 31, the NCJHL final series will return to the Vankleek Hill Arena for Game 4, in a 3:30 p.m. start.

Pharand is confident that if they play their game, the Cougars can come out of next weekend with the series tied up 2-2.

“We need to stay disciplined, keep the puck deep and shoot on net,” Pharand said. “We can win this series – we just have to go out and do it.”

Photo Gallery – Cougars vs Volant March 23