The Vankleek Hill Cougars are tied 1-1 with the Morrisburg Lions in the NCJHL playoff semi-finals.
The Cougars travelled to Morrisburg Saturday night, March 2, to face the lions in the first game of the series. Ashton Adams scored the first goal of the series for the Lions after just three minutes of play, but the Cougars’ Jérémy Marcotte quickly struck back just a minute later.
Morrisburg, however, went on a tear, scoring the next five goals, thanks to Justice Browlee, Ben Lapier, Alex Bergeron, Josh Price and Kayne Mccadden. Marcotte went on to score a second goal for the Cougars with three minutes left to the game, but it was too little too late.
After their 6-2 defeat in Morrisburg, the Cougars were hosting the Lions in Vankleek Hill on Sunday afternoon, March 3. The first period was riddled with indiscipline as Morrisburg’s Kayne Mccadden was ejected from the game after a five minute major penalty and game misconduct for a dangerous kneeing penalty.
But the Cougars failed to capitalize on the opportunity, letting the Lions strike first in the second period with a goal from Lapier in the fourth minute of the second period. With three minutes left in the game, Marcotte came in to tie the game with his third goals of the weekend, before Andy Lightle-Blais captured the lead for the Cougars just a minute later. However, the Lions didn’t back off, and tied the game up to 2-2 with a minute and a half left in the second.
The third period was dominated by the Cougars who struggled to find the back of the net, but with 15 second left to the game, Malcolm Séguin scored on a tight angle above Morrisburg’s goalkeeper’s shoulder, giving the Cougars a hard-fought win.
“I think we played two good games,” said Cougars head coach Nicolas Pharand. “The 6-2 score doesn’t reflect the game we played.”
The Cougars head to Morrisburg on Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m., March 9, and welcome the Lions back to their home ice Sunday, March 10, at 2:30 p.m.
