S P O R T S LES VIKINGS DE CASSELMAN SONT ÉLIMINÉS DES SÉRIES
ANNIE LAFORTUNE annie.lafortune@eap.on.ca
hommes de Mike Ruest qui ont marqué le premier but de la partie. Idem en seconde période. La marque était alors de 2-0. Mais Ottawa est revenu dans la partie en troisième période en inscrivant deux buts, égalant le pointage à 2-2. En prolongation, Frédérick Gagnier, des Vikings, a mis un terme à la partie. Casselman s’est sauvée avec une victoire de 3-2. Lors de la rencontre du 30 mars, les Vikings ont été moins chanceux. Ce n’est qu’en deuxième période que l’équipe de Ruest a ouvert la marque. Mais rapidement, Ottawa a mis la rondelle dans le fond du filet des Vikings. C’était 1-1. En troisième période, chacune des deux équipes a mar- qué, retraitant au vestiaire avec un score de 2-2. Il aura fallu attendre en deuxième prolon- gation pour voir Ottawa mettre un terme à leur duel face aux Vikings. Grâce au but de Noel Moses de Kemp, Ottawa a remporté le match avec un pointage de 3-2.
Les Vikings de Casselman ne seront pas de la finale cette année. Ils ont affronté plus forts qu’eux et ont été éliminés au septième et ultime match, après avoir remporté le championnat pendant cinq années d’affilée. Les Canadians Jr d’Ottawa, qui étaient les favoris dès le départ, ont confirmé leur avance le 26 mars dernier en défaisant Casselman au compte de 3-1. Ce sont les Vikings qui ont tout de même ouvert la marque en première période grâce au but de Joel Hunt. Mais, deux minutes plus tard, Ottawa égalait la marque. En deuxième période, Ottawa a pris une avance d’un but et a réitéré en troisième période. Marque finale de 3-1 pour Ottawa. Le 28 mars, les Vikings ont repris du poil de la bête en l’emportant de justesse par la marque de 3-2. Une fois de plus, ce sont les The Vankleek Hill Cougars beat the Clarence Creek Castors four games in a row in the playoffs to claim the National Capital Hockey League Cup. The fourth and final game took place Saturday night at the Vankleek Hill Arena, in front of a full house of more than 500 fans. The Castors got the opening goal in the first period but the Cougars clawed their way to a 3-1 victory against the visiting team. “I don’t even know what words to use,” said Cougars’ general manager Marc Ber- nique during a later interview. “They (players) were ecstatic.” The Cougars and the Castors were among the top three teams at the end of the regular play schedule for the National Capital Junior Hockey League (NCJHL). Both battled their way all through the quarter-finals and the semi-finals of the playoffs series, to face each other in the finals starting over the March 23 weekend. The final game finished late Saturday night, at the Vankleek Hill Arena, with a 3-1 score for the Cougars. “When we clinched everything at the end, it was sort of a relief,” said Bernique, “but we knew we had a team that could go all the way.” He noted that the first 10 minutes of the opening period saw the Cougars make a number of mistakes on the ice because of nervousness, with the pressure of trying to finish the series and not end up with a fifth game scheduled for the next night in Clarence Creek. The Castors scored the opening goal of the night but then the Cou- gars settled down. “We basically took control of the game,” said Bernique. “We swept them. We knew we could beat them.” Bernique credited “a sense of belonging” as the Cougars’ greatest strength during the past season. “Everybody was part of a team,” he said. “They knew what the goal was and they bought into it.” Next season for Castors GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
The Casselman Vikings will not make the finals this year. They faced a strong team in the Ottawa Canadians and were eliminated. — supplied photo THE COUGARS CLOBBER THE CASTORS IN FOUR GAMES STRAIGHT FOR THE 2019 NCJHL CUP
Les Cougars de Vankleek Hill sont les gagnants ultimes de la Ligue de hockey junior de la capitale nationale pour la saison 2018-2019. Les Cougars ont battu les Castors de Clarence Creek en quatre matchs de suite dans les séries éliminatoires de la ligue, terminant la série par une victoire de 3-1, devant une foule de plus de 500 personnes, à domicile à l’aréna de Vankleek Hill, le samedi soir 30 mars. —photo fournie
Castors’ general manager André Roy expressed himself as very satisfied overall with how the team and club has done for the 2018-2019 NCJHL season. “We had one of our best seasons ever in the NCJHL,” Roy said during a Sunday phone interview. “We won quite a lot of hardware. Our veterans played well as expected, and our goaltending has been outstanding, and also our defensive play.” After the post-season banquet, the
Castors Club executive will start planning for the next season. Roy noted that the club will lose just four of their senior veterans from this season as Raphaël Payant, Mathew Clifford, Patrick Lemay, and Aiden Cannell all turn 21, which removes them from junior C hockey. “We should have a solid core coming back,” Roy said. “Next year we’re looking to have a lot of local guys join our group.” Final game results
The March 30 finale at the Vankleek Hill Arena finished 3-1 for the home team with Cougars’ goals from Hugo Blanchard, Nicolas Castonguay, and Keean McEachern. Assists on the scoring came from Nikolas Ayotte, Tyler Dopelhamer, Justin Labrosse, and Danny Plourde-Grenon, with Alexander Labrèche guarding the net. Raphaël Payant scored for the Castors in first period, with help from Matthew Clifford. Corey Camirand was in the net.
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