Cougars Weekend Recap and Athletes of the Week

Supplied by Sault College…
MEN’S HOCKEY
GAME 1: SAULT COUGARS vs DAVENPORT PANTHERS
SAULT STE. MARIE – Game one vs the Davenport Panthers was an entertaining affair that had the fans on the edge of their seats for most of the 60 minutes. Both teams came out skating and traded early opportunities before Steven Khull opened the scoring for the Cougars on a beauty top-shelf snipe off of a cross crease feed from Brad Thrower. After a couple of Davenport chances in the next few minutes, the Cougars would extend their lead by 2 striking for a couple of goals in just over a minute to make it 3-0. Davenport would pressure and answer back with a late breakaway goal to send the teams to the room with the Cougars up 3-1.

Coming out of intermission, the Panthers would dominate the play and buzz around the Sault end throughout the period. While out working the Cougars, Davenport would strike for 2 quick goals 90 seconds apart to tie the game before the 10-minute mark of the frame. Both teams would exchange chances and the Panthers would keep up the pressure but the Cougars would hold off the attack and the clubs would go to intermission in a 3-3 deadlock.

The third period would see Sault College settle in and control the play throughout. Davenport starting goalie Deering would make a handful of sensational stops before Cougars D-man Anthony Pullicino would sneak into the high slot and rifle home a feed from Captain Ryan Vendramin to take a 4-3 lead at the 13-minute mark. More pressure and chances in the Panthers end would see Vendramin score a beautiful goal pulling the puck in between the legs and lifting it over the Panthers goaltender short side to extend the Cougar lead to 5-3 with 6 minutes left. As the period would wind down, Davenport looked to cut into the Cougar lead but to no avail as the final buzzer would hand Sault College a 5-3 win.

Cougars scoring: Ryan Vendramin (2G 2A), Kaelen O’Flynn (2A), Steve Khull (1G), Anthony Pullicino (1G), Bryceton Lalonde (1G), Mark Tassone (1A), Lucas Duckstein (1A), Brad Thrower (1A), Austin Rowe (1A), Max Khull (1A).

GAME 2: SAULT COUGARS vs. DAVENPORT PANTHERS
SAULT STE. MARIE – In the return matchup vs the Davenport Panthers, Sault College came out gunning right from the first drop of the puck. The Cougars would strike just 30 seconds in on a goal at the side of the crease by Bryceton Lalonde. Austin Rowe would make it 2-0 just 3 minutes later with a shorthanded, unassisted breakaway goal. The Sault would dominate the period and add 2 more to head into the intermission leading 4-0.

In the second, the Cougars would continue the dominant play with little pushback from Davenport. Working hard and buzzing around the offensive zone, Bryceton Lalonde would tally 2 more in a 3-minute span for the hat trick and give the Cougars a 6-0 lead while chasing starting goalie Drake Deering out of the Panthers net. Austin Rowe would pot his second of the game near the end of the second to give the Cougars a 7-0 lead at the end of the period.

In the third period, Davenport would pressure early and bank a rebound off of the backboards past Cougar goalie Justin Richer making it 7-1. Sault College would quickly regroup and respond minutes later scoring 2 in a 90 second span to extend the Cougar lead. Davenport would add 1 more on a breakaway to make it 9-2 and Max Khull would net his second of the period to round out the scoring for the game. Both teams would skate out the last 8 minutes of the period playing physical and after a few late penalties, the final buzzer would sound with the Cougars taking home a 10-2 win.

Cougar scoring: Bryceton Lalonde (3G 1A), Ryan Vendramin (2 G 3A), Austin Rowe(2G 1A), Max Khull (2G), Mark Tassone (1G 1A) , Kaelen O’Flynn (4A) , Mitchell Devins-Cann (3A) , Parker Morgan (1A) and Matthew Binguis (1A).

Up Next: The Cougars head to the road to play a 2-game series against the Liberty University Flames on Friday November 8th @ 7:00 pm and Saturday November 9th @ 1:30 pm.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY
GAME 1: SAULT COUGARS vs DAVENPORT PANTHERS
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The Cougars got off to a good start on the road against Davenport with a closely contested game in the first 10 minutes of the period. The second half of the first saw the Panthers get out ahead with 2 quick goals. Ashleigh Wiwchar would get one back to make it a 2-1 game, but immediately after Courtney Mulligan would restore the Panthers 2-goal lead at the end of the first period.
After the Panthers made it a 4-1 game Mispon Martin lead a Cougars’ comeback with 2 quick goals of her own to make it a 4-3 game.

The back and forth contest would continue yet again with the Panthers finishing the period with a goal of their own restoring their 2-goal lead yet again. The third period had both the Cougars and Panthers tighten up defensively, the only goal coming courtesy of Olivia Barsanti. The lone goal in the frame wasn’t enough to complete the comeback as the Cougars ultimately had their final few shots stopped by the Davenport goalie and finished with a 5-4 loss.
Cougars scoring was led by Mispon Martin’s 2 goals and Olivia Barsanti and Ashleigh Wiwchar added 1 goal each.

GAME 2: SAULT COUGARS vs DAVENPORT PANTHERS
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Saturday featured the second game of a back to back for the Women’s team as they looked to rebound from a 5-4 loss on Friday. The Cougars struck early in the contest with a goal 75 seconds into the game as a shot from Mispon Martin got through Davenport’s goalie Dayna Templeton. The rest of the first period featured a heavy dose of stops from Cougars goalie Jenelle Manitowabi stopping 16 shots in the first frame.

The second period saw no scoring because of some stellar play by both goalies with Manitowabi stopping the 9 shots she faced including stopping the Panthers 5-3 power play chances and Templeton stopping the 10 shots she saw from the Cougars offensive push.

The third period was a much different story as the Panthers broke Manitowabi, striking within the first five minutes and again late in the frame to give Davenport the lead. Julia Gaynor, the Panthers goalie who registered the win between the pipes on Friday skated out on Saturday and scored both goals for the Panthers. Shortly after, the Cougars Olivia Barsanti hit back 39 seconds after the Panthers took the lead to even up the game at 2-2 and sending the game into overtime.

The Cougars efforts from the third period carried over into overtime as Martin went over top of Templeton to register her second goal of the game, and the game winner just 31 seconds in.
Cougars scoring was led again by Mispon Martin’s second consecutive game with 2 goals along with a goal by Olivia Barsanti.

Up Next: The Cougars head to the road next weekend to play Notre Dame for a 2-game series on Friday November 8th and Saturday November 9th both games starting at 9:00 pm.

MEN’S BASKETBALL
SAULT COUGARS vs. LSSU JV LAKERS
SAULT STE. MARIE – The Cougars got some good experience in on Sunday night as they played the LSSU JV Lakers in an exhibitions game, and would see themselves in quite the array of scenarios. The Cougars were up big in the first quarter thanks to a pair of 3’s made by Brian Senecal and 3 shots made by Simon Wal that contributed to a 13 point run and a 28-19 lead at the end of the first.
The second quarter is when things started to go the Lakers way as they answered every Sault College score with one of their own including three timely 3’s to get the score to an even closer 44-40 at half.

The Cougars managed to keep the lead in the 3rd quarter but could not manage to pull away as the game continued to go back in forth, much like the 2nd. The final quarter had LSSU JV take their first lead thanks to three 3’s from the Austin Purchase of the Lakers. The one thing the Cougars have shown this season is that they can play in close games which came through again late in the 4th with Jaylyne Moore-Tucker and Simon Wal hitting huge shots to keep the lead with less than a minute left. Kevon Clarke hit a free throw to make it a two possession game, as despite a late 3 by the Lakers with 0.4 seconds left, Sault
College would hold on for the nail biting 84-83 win.
Cougars scoring was led by Simon Wal’s 35 points and 6 rebounds followed by a strong performance by Jaylyne Moore-Tucker with 20 points and 11 rebounds while Kevon Clarke had 8 points with 12 while adding 12 rebounds.

Up Next: The Cougars are at home for a 2-game series next weekend against the Conestoga Condors. Games are Saturday November 9th @ 8:00 pm and Sunday November 10th at 3:00 pm, both games will be played in the Sault College Health and Wellness Centre.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
SAULT COUGARS vs LSSU JV LAKERS
SAULT STE. MARIE – The Cougars came out of the gates slow in the first half of their exhibition game on Sunday but managed to turn things around as the game progressed. The game would eventually see an 8 point run by the Cougars followed directly by an LSSU JV run of 10. The first half would see a coupe lead changes with Emma Filion providing 10 first half points to keep the Cougars in the game.

Things changed quickly in the 3rd quarter as the Cougars started to separate themselves from LSSU JV in part because of their outstanding defense that allowed a meager 2 points in the entire 3rd quarter. The Cougars then pulled away in the 4th with Filion being the catalyst yet again with 9 2nd half points to lead the Cougars past LSSU JV with a 56-32 win.
Cougars scoring was led by the aforementioned Emma Filion with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Clara Yanchuk had 11 points while Taylor Elliott had 8 points to go with 11 rebounds. Strong rebounding was a theme this game as Cassidy Sabourin had 11 to go with 6 points and Andrea Gorman had 13 rebounds of her own to go along with two charges.

Up Next: The Cougars are at home for a 2-game series next weekend against the Conestoga Condors. Games are Saturday November 9th @ 6:00 pm and Sunday November 10th at 1:00 pm, both games will be played in the Sault College Health and Wellness Centre.

Athletes of the Week:

Mispon Martin (Women’s Hockey): Martin had 2 goals in game one, and another 2 goals in game two, including the overtime winner to secure a series split with Davenport.

Bryceton Lalonde (Men’s Hockey): Bryceton had a hat trick in the first game against Davenport to go along with an assist, and added another goal in game two to help secure two wins for the Cougars.