Cougars come back to win NCJHL championship

The Vankleek Hill Cougars are the 2026 National Capital Junior Hockey League (NCJHL) Champions!

The Cougars fought their way back from a 4-1 deficit last Friday night (April 10) in Westport to earn a 6-4 win and clinch the NCJHL’s final series four games to two. The win completes what has been an amazing season for the Vankleek Hill Junior C club and achieves the objective the team’s owners and coaching staff had targeted from the beginning of training camp.

“(The championship) was our main goal – the ownership, coaches, and players – we wanted to bring home a championship for Vankleek Hill and our fans,” said Cougars Head Coach Hamish Cunning. “It took a lot of effort in the finals, but we finally did it.”

The Rideaus did something in the finals that no other NCJHL team had done all season. They beat the Cougars in regulation time – not just once, but twice – in extending the final series to six games. And for a large part of Sunday’s game, it looked like the series would go the full seven.

“I knew going in the series was going to be a battle – Westport played us tight all year,” Cunning said, tipping his cap to the Westport Junior C team. “They’re a great team, with great fans, and it’s good for our league to have two teams from small towns in the finals.”

Cunning also thanked the fans of the Cougars, who supported the team all season.

“We have great fans. In Game 6 (in Westport), I would say half the crowd was Vankleek Hill fans,” Cunning gushed. “It’s good to see that much emotion from the fans and it’s even better when you win.”

The championship win was particularly sweet for Vankleek Hill’s 21-year-old players, who were playing their final season of Junior hockey.

“We had five 21-year-olds on our team,” Cunning noted. “What better way to send those guys off than to win the championship?”

“That’s something I and the entire team wanted to do for them. As a team we all rally behind them.”

Friday, April 10 – Vankleek Hill Cougars 6, Westport Rideaus 4

Down 4-1 late in the second period and still trailing 4-2 almost midway through the third period of Game 6 in Westport last Friday night (April 10), the Cougars stormed back with four unanswered goals in the final half of the frame and added an empty netter, to take a 6-4 win and clinch the NCJHL final series four games to two.

Nolan MacMillan was the hero for Vankleek Hill this night, scoring both the tying and winning goals, before adding an empty netter to seal the win for Vankleek Hill with an end of series natural hat trick.

As they had the entire series, the Rideaus came out strong, taking a 1-0 lead in the first, and extending it to 2-0 in the second period, before Vankleek Hill’s Bruno Laframboise cut the lead to 2-1 by scoring with three minutes left in the second. That ignited a flurry of goals, with Westport’s Ben Peladeau and Thomas McLean taking the home squad to a 4-1 lead, before Laframboise’s second goal with 23 seconds left cut the lead to 4-2 heading into the third.

After a back-and-forth first half of the period, Cougars defenseman Bradley Horner ignited the large section of Vankleek Hill fans who made the trip to Westport by scoring at 9:12 of the third, to cut the Rideaus’ lead to 4-3.

MacMillan then went to work, scoring on an assist from Cody Horner to tie the game up with 6:12 left. Then, with just over three minutes left in the game, Liam Lynn found MacMillan again in front of the net and the Vankleek Hill forward made no mistake in giving the Cougars their first lead of the game.

With Westport goaltender Ben Spicer pulled for an extra attacker, MacMillan completed the hat trick by scoring into the empty net with 23 second left, sending the team’s bench and Vankleek Hill fans in attendance into a frenzy.

Mac’s final thoughts on the Cougars’ 2025-2026 season

It has been a great hockey year winning my first Junior Hockey Championship as a statistician and Stats Man for the Cougars.

I would like to thank the Vankleek Hill Cougars for having me and I am looking forward to working with them again next season and many more seasons to come! VKH is the best team and has the best fans in the league! I love my Cougars family! Like my brother said we set records!

We had an amazing regular season and championship run and our team will be even stronger next season!