Schomberg Cougars learning their way in first playoff game
By Jon Yaneff

Cougars forward Brandon Lisi gets ready to shoot the puck, before scoring the team's third goal of Game 1.

The Schomberg Cougars find themselves down 3-0 in their best-of-seven Georgian Mid-Ontario (division of the Ontario Hockey Association) series with the Penetang Kings.

The chaos began Thursday night when the Cougars dropped a very lopsided 10-3 catastrophe at the hands of the ill-tempered Kings.

But, the way things ended doesn't indicate how the Cougars came out flying in the first period.

Schomberg opened the scoring at the 14:44 mark of the first when Larry Volpe (assisted by Jamie Murrell and Matt Steenhoek) beat Kings' goaltender Chris Daniels.

It looked like the Cougars would head into the second with the slim lead, but that wouldn't be the case as Penetang's Aaron Duval (assisted by Lenny Robillard and Kelly Louguran) scored with 2:30 left in the period, then Marc Duquette scored a power-play goal (assisted by Robillard and Craig Speers) with less than one second left, stunning the Cougars, who found themselves down 2-1 going into the second period.

"We played a very sound first period, which was positive for us," said Cougars' Head Coach Gary Waldrum. "We could have easily been up after the first."

The Cougars tried to regain some momentum early in the second, as Steenhoek tied the contest on the power-play, 2-2, about four minutes into the period on a pass from Volpe.

But, the rest of the second period proved devastating as the Kings tallied six goals, five of which came on the power play, to take a 8-2 strangle-hold going into the third. Duval continued his impressive night by adding two goals during this period, while completing his hat trick. Duval was the leading scoring in the league with 72 points (28 goals and 44 assists) during the regular season.

Penetang captain Evan Cole and Robillard both compiled gutty performances with three assist nights each.

The Cougars still had life in the third as Brandon Lisi (assisted by Dan Naccaratto and Murrell) slapped one from the point to beat Daniels.

Tyler Lumley (assisted by Adam Heskamp) and Greg Cerilli of the Kings then notched two pointless markers to finish the game's scoring.

Volpe and the King's Brett Moreau fought late in the third, which ensued Moreau hitting Volpe in the head with his helmet and resulted in an ejection of the game as well as a four-game suspension of the Penetang tough-guy.

The Kings outshot the Cougars, 56-22 in the game, as Schomberg goalie Aaron Green had 46 saves to Daniels' 19.

In Game 2 of the series, the Kings again dominated the contest to the tune of 5-1 in Penetang Friday.

Schomberg's only goal came off the stick of Lisi (assisted by Colin Murray).

Penetang had five different goal scorers, including Duval, who had a three-point night with one goal and two assists.

The Kings again outshot the Cougars, 35-21, as Green had 30 saves to Kings' goalie, Corey Moore's 20.

In Game 3 it was the exact same story with the Kings beating the Cougars, 7-0, in Penetang Monday night.

Green played outstanding as the Kings outshot Schomberg, 45-20, the Cougar goalie made 38 saves.

During the game Penetang's Duval decided to run into Green with two Cougars in the penalty box. Duval is now suspended for his actions.

"The ruckus ensued and we were frustrated as they were taking control of the game," said Waldrum. "But, the referees did a good job at keeping it under control."

The Cougars now face elimination at home tomorrow (Thursday) in Schomberg at 8:15 p.m. against the Kings. If a fifth game is necessary, it will be Saturday in Schomberg, starting at 6:45 p.m.

Despite the deficit in the series, Waldrum realizes he has a young team and hope they can get back in the fight.

"We have a young, inexperienced team and now after some of our players have their first playoff game under their belts, they know what they did right and wrong, so we just got to get back at it and give it a good effort," he said. "We're in tough but we're not giving up."