Saturday game cancelled after power failure

It was a shorter than usual weekend for the Cougars men’s hockey team, and not because of the distance travelled as the team’s Saturday game was abruptly cancelled after the first period due to a power failure.

On Friday night, the Cougars travelled the six-plus hours north to Lac La Biche to take on the Portage Voyageurs in an important game for the Cougars, who looked to make up ground on first place SAIT Trojans.

It wouldn’t take long for the Cougars to opening the scoring, as just three minutes into the first period Jeremy Roberts would add his eighth goal of the season to give the Cougs’ the early lead.

Under two minutes later, Roberts was back adding to his stats, as the talented forward took a feed from linemate Brendan Turnbull to add his second of the game, also giving Turnbull his second assist of the match.

The Cougars would take the two goal lead into the second frame and would do no scoring of their own in the period, as the Voyageurs cut their lead to one as Leo Keefer beat goalkeeper Justin Cote, to put a blemish on Cote’s record on an otherwise perfect night.

In the third period, the Cougars would quell any chance of a comeback with a pair of goals eight minutes apart as Grant Toulmin and Jason MacDonald would each tally in the frame to give the Cougars the eventual 4-1 victory.

Justin Cote turned away 26 shots in the victory as the Cougars penalty-kill went a solid 5-5 on the night for the league’s third-best PK.

On Saturday afternoon, the two teams met again for what was the expected rematch – however, the Cougs’ and Voyageurs would only make it through one period of play before an eventual power failure left the teams in the dark.

The staff at the Bold Center worked feverously to restore power back to the rink, but unfortunately the problem could not be resolved in time.

There is still no word on whether the game we will be replayed at another date, or if the 0-0 tie will stand, but more information will be available shortly.

With only four games remaining on the schedule, including a matchup with the first place SAIT Trojans, the Cougars will look to keep the positive momentum flowing this coming weekend when they take on the Augustana Vikings on Friday and Saturday night.

The two teams will square off at Flames Community Arenas on Friday at 7:30 p.m., before heading to Camrose on Saturday.