The 樱桃视频Cougars beat the best team in the World Hockey Association last Friday (Oct. 27) to improve their overall record to 4 wins and 6 losses. 樱桃视频edged the Lumby Fighting Saints at the Saints' home rink 2-1 in a shootout.
Lumby had only dropped two of their first nine games heading into last Friday's tilt. The Saints opened the scoring midway through the first period, but 樱桃视频goalie Graham Hallenbeck closed the door after that. Hallenbeck turned away 41 of 42 shots during regulation time, stopped three more shots in overtime and stoned all eight shooters he faced in the shootout.
Cougar captain Troy McLean scored for 樱桃视频to tie the game in the second period. McLean, with six goals and seven assists, is now tied for the team's lead in points with Jeff Brown. Brown has five goals and eight helpers on the season.
The Saints out shot the Cougars 14-7 in the third period and 45-25 after regulation and overtime. That then set the stage for a dramatic shootout, with each goalie turning away shot after shot until the Cougar's Sinclair Kim got a chance to shoot in the eighth round. "He had been our guy in practice, and I'd bumped a couple of guys ahead of him. I probably should have put him out earlier. He came in, made a great move, faked a backhand, and then tucked it back to his forehand," said Cougar head coach Matt Samson.
"It was a good, fast paced game with lots of hitting, lots of chances at both ends. Both goalies played really well. Their goalie played Junior A last year, he stood on his head and Graham [Hallenbeck] played unbelievable," praised Samson
The road trip out to Lumby - which is about 20 minutes outside of Vernon - was the longest road trip of the season for 樱桃视频and the team took a few minutes to get their legs into the game.
"We were a little bit sluggish in the first period after being on the bus for seven and a half hours," recalled Samson.
However that road trip will seem like a breeze compared to what the Cougars are facing this week. Last night (Nov. 2), the Cougars played a road game in Armstrong. (A final score was not available before the Chief went to press).
Right after the game, the team had to jump back on the bus and travel back to 樱桃视频for a home game tonight (Nov. 3) against New Westminster. On Sunday (Nov. 5) morning the Cougars are back on the road for an afternoon return game in New West.
On the personnel side, the Cougar's lost one of their more talented players recently. Local boy Russ LaForest has left the club to play for a Junior A team in New Brunswick. Samson didn't waste anytime replacing LaForest. The 樱桃视频coach called up one of his contacts in the U.S., and got Jason Lee, the second player in three weeks from the same junior team in Tuscan, AZ.
