Win and a tie for Cougar men

The Mount Royal Cougar men’s hockey team haven’t played their best hockey yet, but they’re moving in the right direction.

The Cougars faced the Concordia Thunder in a home-and-home series over the weekend, and were looking to put the previous weekend’s lacklustre effort behind them.

After losing their last game 3-0 to the NAIT Ooks on Oct. 16th, the Cougs’ stepped on the ice Friday night at the Flames Community Arenas, determined to prove that they belong in the conversation as one of the ACAC’s best squads.

After falling behind 1-0 early in the first period after a Thunder powerplay goal, the Cougars came out flying in the second period. The momentum would shift to the home side, and would remain there for the duration of the game, as the Cougars hammered the opposition 6-1.

Barry Horman put the Cougars on the board with a powerplay goal just three minutes into the second, and scored his second goal of the game on another powerplay just six minutes later.

After assisting on Horman’s first goal, Vinny Muchalla scored with just over three minutes left in the second period as he continues to fill the stat sheet in his first year with the Cougars after coming over from NCAA Division III Wentworth Institute of Technology. He would add an assist in the third, finishing with a three point night.

The Cougars were relentless in the third period, and defenseman Ryan Moir scored two goals in the first ten minutes of the final frame. Coleton Thielmann also scored for the Cougars.

The Cougars’ Justin Cote stopped 19 out of 20 shots as he faced his former team for the first time since coming over to Mount Royal. Cote led the Thunder to an upset victory over the Cougars in last year’s ACAC semi-final matchup.

Saturday’s affair would prove to be a much tougher challenge for the Cougars in front of a boisterous Concordia crowd, as the Thunder played with the focus and intensity that was lacking a night earlier.

The Cougars would have to dig deep on Saturday night to salvage a 3-3 tie against the home team, coming from behind and scoring with a minute left in the game to avoid their second loss of the season.

Vinny Muchalla continued his hot streak with his first period goal, and Barry Horman added a goal and an assist, including the tying goal with just over a minute left in the third. Overtime would solve nothing as the Cougars notched their second tie of the season, bringing their record to 3-1-0-2.

Dan Spence started in net for the Cougs, who were outshot 27-24 by the Thunder.
The next games for the Cougars men’s hockey team will be Friday, Oct.29th as they head to Grant MacEwan to play the Griffins, before heading to the friendly confines of Flames Community Arenas on Saturday, Oct.30th at 7:30 p.m.