The Inferno seemed to be no match for the Cougars on Saturday, allowing the home team to set the pace of play and get the majority of scoring chances in the first period. The Cougars finally broke the ice when Simon Levac dished to Zack Labbé, whose shot was blocked by Trevor Cooper, but Justin Chaumont buried the rebound to give his team the lead.
A few minutes later, while Vankleek Hill was killing a penalty, Andy Lightle Blais blocked a point shot at the blue line and scored a breakaway goal to double the home team’s lead. Then, Joshua Renaud scored a breakaway goal of his own, beating Cooper with a low shot on his glove side.
Even in power play, the Inferno couldn’t get anything going, and Jérémy Marcotte seized his opportunity to score the home team’s fourth goal on another breakaway, beating the Almonte goalie with a backhand shot between the legs while being down a man.
The Inferno finally started heating up at the beginning of the second period. Jaydon Blanchard managed to force a neutral zone turnover and dished to Adam Goodfellow, who hit the crossbar early in the period. Almonte got another power play opportunity at 16:28, and this time the Inferno did manage to get a couple of good scoring chances. But the Cougars were relentless, and they managed to score a third shorthanded goal when Marcotte buried his second goal of the game with five minutes remaining in the period.
The Inferno finally got on the scoreboard a few minutes later when Ethan Gautier grabbed a loose puck in front of the Cougars net to cut the home team’s lead to four.
Almonte got on the scoreboard again in the third period when Jack Sandford scored his team’s second goal, assisted by Wyatt Carr, but it was too little, too late, and the Cougars added another goal before the end of the game to pull away with the 6-2 victory.
4-1 loss against Volant
The Cougars faced-off against the Gatineau Hull Volant on the very next day, but weren’t as successful. They lost 4-1 to the home team, with Joshua Renaud scoring his team’s only goal of the game, assisted by Marcotte and Levac.
Vankleek Hill won seven of their last 10 games. They currently hold the fifth spot in the general standings of the NCJHL, one point in front of the St-Isidore Eagles and four points behind the North Dundas Rockets.
