The Cougars finished the week by picking up six points to end the week with 58 points, two back of Pembina Valley and the Winnipeg Thrashers for third, and four back of Yellowhead for second with seven games to play. The Cougars finish with five games on the road and a pair of home games.
Cougars 4 Bruins 3 OT
The Cougars and the Winnipeg Bruins hit the ice on Wednesday night in Souris in a rescheduled game with both teams in a playoff battle with the Cougars holding the edge. The Bruins jumped out to the lead five minutes into the period and held the play for most of the frame until Colton Miller got the puck to Jacob Dolomont deep to the left of Nikolas Jerris in the Bruins net. Dolomont sent the puck to the net and it deflected off a Bruins D man in the cage behind Jerris.
Joey Bielik scored the only goal of the second for the 2-1 lead as the Cougars rang the puck off the post or crossbar six times during the game.
The third period saw Hunter Wallace find the net 17 seconds in with the man advantage with Braeden Lewis and Cody Gudnason picking up the helpers. This goal was deflected by a Bruins forward into their net to tie the score. Ashton Rominiuk gave the Bruins the lead again 11 minutes into the period. The Cougars continue to battle, and with Eric Reid on the bench in the final minute the Cougars stormed the Bruins net. A wild pile up in the Bruins crease saw the Cougars tie the game with three seconds left. Trevor Hunt got the puck to Gudnason who found Zach Turner wide open and he buried the biscuit to even the score.
The Bruins protested the goal and ended up with a minor penalty as the game went to extra time; 25 seconds in Jordan Boyechko tipped the puck in to give the Cougars the win and their only lead of the game.
Wallace and Lewis had the helpers on the power play goal.
Eric Reid faced 26 shots in the game for the win while the Cougars fired 37 at Nikolas Jerris in the Bruins net.
Cougars 5 Yellowhead 2
The team met the second place Chiefs on Saturday at Virden Minor Hockey Day with the Chiefs dominating with physical play, outshooting the Cougars 7 to 5 in the first.
The Cougars’ Braeden Lewis took a high sticking minor at 5:33 of the second in the Cougars end. The Chiefs controlled the play until Matthew Ramsey grabbed the puck and went down the left wing and fired the puck low, glove-side to open the scoring at 6:40. The Cougars pounced again 24 seconds later when Ramsey and Trevor Hunt sent Hunter Wallace loose at center ice. Wallace went in and beat Nathan Falloon. The two shorthanded goals took the wind out of the Chiefs.
Trevor Hunt made it 3 – 0 with an unassisted marker at the 11-minute mark before Owen Wareham scored a power play marker at 18:25 on a shot that deflected off a Cougar stick. Zach Turner then took it upon himself to get the lead back taking the puck to the left of Eric Reid and skating around the net down the right wing and putting it in the Chiefs net with 14 seconds left in the period for a 4 - 1 lead.
With over five minutes left in the third the Chiefs pulled Falloon for the extra attacker and finally beat Eric Reid when Mitchell Collyer scored with 56 seconds left in the game. That was as close as the Chiefs could get as Wallace scored his second goal of the game into an empty net.
The Chiefs outshot the Cougars as Nathan Falloon faced 28 shots while Eric Reid faced 31 in the Cougar net for the win.
Cougars 5 Parkland 2
The Cougars travelled to Dauphin and came away with a 5-2 win in a sloppy game. Braeden Lewis opened the scoring six minutes into the first from Andrew Andries and Nolan Wickham.
The second period saw the Cougars take a five goal lead. Hunter Wallace scored his second shorthanded goal of the weekend from Matthew Ramsey, Owen Harris then dented the twine from Hunt and Brayden Knox. Wickham got in on the fun with help from Andries and then Luke Robson finished the scoring from Colton Miller and Wickham in a seven-minute span midway through the period. The Rangers got on the board when Steven Arp scored a power play goal in the last minute.
Rylan Gibbs finished the scoring for the Rangers at the 16-minute mark as the Cougars walked away with a six-point week. Kieran Stewart earned the win with a 25-save performance while the Cougars peppered Liam Jardine with 34 shots.
The Cougars visit Brandon midweek and then visit Winnipeg to take on the Thrashers and Wild on the weekend.
