Cougs' drop in wild weekend

In the final week of the regular season, the Mount Royal Cougar men’s hockey team battled gamely against the ACAC’s top-ranked team, and came up just short, dropping a pair of closely contested finishes to the SAIT Trojans.

The Cougars gave the Trojans all they could handle on Friday, losing 2-0 while outshooting their opponents 29-23. On Saturday, the two teams played a chaotic affair, and again the Trojans emerged victorious, edging the Cougars 2-1.

The tone for the weekend was set in the first minute of Friday night’s game, as Cougars’ Coleton Thielmann laid a bone crunching hit on a Trojans forward bringing the crowd to their feet – though only 64 penalty minutes were doled out in game one, four ten-minute misconducts were accrued and it seemed inconceivable  that these two teams could get along.

36 shots were registered in the first two periods combined, and neither team was willing to budge on Friday, and for a little over two periods, no ground was given to either side.
The goaltending was excellent, the defence was stout and it was a great display of gritty, hard-nosed hockey.

Something eventually had to give, and at 14:50 of the third period the Trojans’ Brad Plumton beat Cougar goaltender Justin Cote to make it 1-0.

The Cougars pulled Cote with just over two minutes remaining, but the Trojans potted an empty net goal at 19:05 to close it out – locking up first place in conference by securing at least one point in the weekend.

Though Saturday was meaningless in terms of the ACAC standings, this heated rivalry was at its fiercest this weekend, and in game two it rose to new heights as a combined eight ejections and 257 penalty minutes were dished out by the officials.

The melee began when the Cougars’ Eric Galbraith laid a vicious hit on Joe Babey, prompting a game misconduct for Galbraith and ensuing chaos between the two teams.

The Cougars would score first at 2:35 of the second period. On the powerplay, Darnell Glass fired from the left point and the rebound popped out to Bradley Goss who buried it to make it 1-0 Cougars.

The Trojans responded at 11:10 of the same period, also on the powerplay, as Trevor Bailey beat the Cougars’ Brent Bothwell to knot it up at 2-2.

Early in the third period, the Trojans jumped on a Cougar turnover and Trojan Shane Lust took it the length of the ice to bury a shorthanded breakaway goal, good for the game winner and a 2-1 Trojans victory.

Each of these two teams will receive a first round bye, and will begin their respective semi-final series on February 25th. 

Round one of the ACAC playoffs will feature the Augustana Vikings versus the Portage Voyageurs, while the NAIT Ooks will take on their Edmonton rival the Concordia Thunder.