After an unexpected week off, the Vankleek Hill Cougars roared back to life, with a commanding 6-2 win over the St-Isidore Eagles, on Saturday, October 5 at the Vankleek Hill Community Centre.
Vankleek Hill received balanced scoring in their home victory, with six different players putting the puck past St-Isidore netminder Daniel Gagnon. Tristan Paquette was solid in the Cougars net, earning the win by stopping all but two shots by the Eagles.
Jacob Crete, Reid Cunning, Maxime Laliberte, Nikolas Mayer, Sebastien Ouimet, and Connor Stewart each scored single goals for the Cougars, while Cody Horner and Andy Lightle-Blais each had two assists. Yan Maisonneuve and Maxime Patenaude replied for St-Isidore.
Ouimet put Vankleek Hill up by one with eight minutes remaining in the first period. Patenaude then pulled the Eagles even with a goal at 17:53. However Stewart restored the Cougars’ one-goal lead, just 15 seconds later, to send Vankleek Hill into the second frame with a 2-1 lead. Crete and Laliberte put Vankleek Hill up by three – each scoring in the first five minutes of the second period.
Saturday night’s game was the first in two weeks for the Cougars, after their game scheduled for Saturday, September 28, against the Cumberland Castors was canceled at the last minute.
With the win, the Cougars improved their season record to two wins against one loss and sit in fifth place in the National Capital Junior Hockey League (NCJHL) standings. Vankleek Hill does have two games in hand on each of the four teams in front of them.
St-Isidore’s record dropped to 1-4 on the season, leaving the Eagles tied with Morrisburg and South Grenville at the bottom of the NCJHL standings.
Upcoming games
The Cougars will be at home again at the Vankleek Hill Arena this Saturday, October 12, to face the Westport Rideaus. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
On Sunday, October 13, Vankleek Hill will travel to Cumberland, to play the Castors, in a 7:20 p.m. start.
