Coming off their Christmas Break, the Squamish Cougars faced three opponents over the New Year's weekend.
The Lumby Fighting Saints were in town to tangle with the Cougars last Friday night (Dec. 29). The Cougars came out in the first period determined to solve Saints netminder James Morrison and their efforts were rewarded early.
Jeremy Ennis drew three Saints defenders towards him in the corner and passed to Jason Lee standing alone in front of Morrison who caught the Saints goalie moving the wrong way and it was 1-0.
The Saints were not to be outdone as a Cougar shoot-out on the Saints powerplay was intercepted by Kyle Amonson, who found Taylor Summerfelt in front of Cougars stopper Graham Hallenbeck.
Hallenbeck just could not get to Summerfelt shot in time and it was 1-1. The Saints got their only lead of the game when Tom Nagy blasted a shot into Hallenbeck's pads. The rebound ended up on Jesse Ruesch's stick and he put the puck behind a sliding Hallenbeck.
Both teams started the second period without a lot of energy - passes were missing sticks, offsides were frequent and shots were not accurate. The Saints thought they had a 3-1 lead but it was called back because the puck was kicked in. This seemed to wake the Cougars from their turkey slumber and they began to pressure the Saints.
The Cougars tied the game on a give-and-go between Troy McLean and Spencer Samson. McLean picked up the puck in the corner and slid a pass to Samson who put a shot from the slot on the low stick side past Morrison.
That goal seemed to bother the Saints netminder as he picked up two penalties towards the end of the period. Morrison was pulled from the net in favour of backup Ryan Dutcher.
Despite two Saints penalties disappearing off the books between the second and third period, the Cougars kept up their pressure.
Troy McLean scored what would become the winning goal on a weak shot that trickled past Dutcher.
Newcomer Brian Kim gave the Cougars a 4-2 lead with a shot that handcuffed Dutcher.
The Saints lost their composure after Squamish's fifth goal.
Samson found Ross Pattison alone in front of the Saints gatekeeper and Pattison put the puck upstairs.
Roughing penalties initiated by the Saints resulted in many Cougar opportunities. Cougars Nils Hanfstingl did most of the work on Squamish's sixth goal. Hanfstingl weaved his way from his own end, through the neutral zone, across the blue line before being hauled down. Jeff Brown pounced on the loose puck and turns Dutcher inside out to close out the scoring.
Cougars open the second half with a convincing 6-2 win over the Saints. Shots on goal were Cougars 35 and the Saints 32.
"I thought the first two periods were great," commented Cougars coach Matt Samson. "We were all over them, we beat them to the loose pucks and our hard work paid off."
When asked about momentum shift on the disallowed goal, Samson replied, "Definitely, it's a lot easier to come back from a one-goal deficit."
Saints coach Colin O'Hara thought his team dominated at times "But the jump just wasn't there tonight," he added.
On Saturday night (Dec. 30) the Cougars travelled to the Interior to face the Osoyoos Spurs.
The Spurs quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but the Cougars clawed their way back into the game with two goals of their own to end the second period.
The Cougars went ahead 3-2 with 14 minutes left in the game. Despite numerous opportunities the Cougars could not find that elusive fourth goal. The Spurs tied it up late in the period and then went a head on a controversial goal.
According to Samson, the question became whether or not the puck went in the net before the play was whistled dead. It seemed all the officials were saying no goal until a discussion with the goal judge altered the referee's mind. The Spurs went on to a 4-3 victory. Spencer Samson scored two goals while Alex Wilkes added a marker.
Sunday (Dec. 31) was another dreaded trip to Queen's Park Arena in New Westminster to face the Whalers. Graham Hallenbeck stood on is head in the first period to keep the game close. But the Cougars ran out of gas in the second and third and the Whalers skated to an easy 5-0 victory.
The next home game for the Cougars is 7:30 tonight (Jan. 5) at Brennan Park as the Lumby Fighting Saints return for a rematch. Your Cougars travel to Osoyoos for another battle with the Spurs on Sunday (Jan. 7).
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