Stingy defense

 It had all the makings of a heavyweight title fight.

In one corner, the first-place and undefeated Mount Royal Cougars men’s hockey team, a squad which sports the ACAC’s best goals against record. In the other corner, the Augustana Vikings, tied for second in the ACAC and having scored the league’s most goals.

After trading (figurative) punches for three periods, the Cougars kept their unblemished record intact with a 4-2 win over the Vikings Nov. 4. With the win, Mount Royal improved their record to eight wins and one tie, good enough for a three-point lead over the Vikings. The teams play the second half of their home-and-home series Nov. 5 at Augustana. With the win, the Cougars maintain hold a one-point lead on SAIT and three-point advantage over the Vikings in the ACAC standings.

The Cougars jumped out to 3-1 lead after the opening 20 minutes, scoring on three of their first five shots on net. Cougars’ defenceman Jessie Tresierra opened the scoring just over a minute into the opening frame. With the Cougars on the power-play, the Quesnel, B.C. native blasted a one-timer past Augustana goalie David Ritz from just inside the left point. Brad Haber and Jeff Barrett received assists.

Less than two minutes later, Vinny Muchalla gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead with a pretty shot past Ritz. Sam Muchalla and Brad Goss each recorded their first assists of the game. The Vikings closed to within one at the 10:32 mark when Daniel Hope beat Mount Royal goalie Justin Cote from in-tight, but the combination of the Muchalla brothers and Goss would restore the two-goal advantage 90 second later. Vinny Muchalla netted his second of the game and fifth of the season with a shot low to Ritz’s blocker said. Sam Muchalla and Goss one again received assists, and Ritz was pulled from the game in favour of Paul Kolida.

“We got off to a great start,” said Vinny Muchalla. “We kind of sat back in the second and third and traded chances with them. They have a good offensive team, and you have to respect that,” he said.

“We didn’t panic. We have a dressing room full of leaders, even the new guys coming in. We’ve learned to stick to the game plan, not to panic, and stay focused. If we do that, things will click for us.”

After a scoreless second period, Augustana once again closed the gap to a single goal when Kenny Bradley took a sharp cross ice pass and fired it past an outstretched Cote. That would be as close as they got, and with 23 seconds left in the final period and Mount Royal on the man-advantage, Eric Galbraith scored into an empty net. Nick Bell tallied the lone assist. Overall, Mount Royal went two for seven with the man advantage, while the Vikings were one for five.

Cougars head coach Jean LaForest, while pleased with the win, feels his team is still capable of more.

“We played well enough to win, but we’ve got another gear to our game,” said LaForest. “We have three lines that should be able to put the puck in the net, but we still need to find ways to generate more secondary scoring. We can’t have just one or two lines doing it all.”

The Cougars have two home games remaining this month, Nov. 11 against Concordia and Nov. 19 when SAIT pays a visit. Both games begin at 7:30 p.m. at Flames Community Arenas.