By Jeff Gard/Today’s Northumberland
For the third straight Ontario Junior Hockey League playoffs, the Cobourg Cougars are set to battle the Wellington Dukes in the first round.
They’ll be hoping the third time, a best-of-three series, is the charm as the Dukes defeated the Cougars in five games in 2019 and swept them in four in 2020. Those were best-of-seven games showdowns.
This year brings a different format, though, following an extension of the season due to a pause on the schedule during January as a result of provincial government restrictions. The first two rounds of playoffs feature best-of-three series while the conference finals will be best-of-five and only the Buckland Cup league championship series will be a traditional best-of-seven.
“Best two out of three, it’s going to be a tough series. You lose one and your back’s against the wall right off the bat,” said George Krotiris, who led the Cougars in scoring with 25 goals and 36 assists during the regular season. “I haven’t even been to second-round playoffs yet throughout my years playing in the OJ because of the Dukes so I know it’s going to be an interesting one this year. We have a good group of guys and I think we’re going to turn on another gear coming into the playoffs now. I don’t see why we couldn’t come out of this series with a win.”
Game 1 will be held in Wellington on Sunday night at 7:30 before the Cougars host Game 2 on Monday evening, 7 p.m., at the Cobourg Community Centre. If necessary, the third-and-deciding contest is scheduled for Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Wellington.
“We’re going to come out as hard as we can and try to take the W tomorrow and then and try and win (the series) at home,” Krotiris said, adding he hopes to help give local fans the first Cougars playoff series win since 2018.
Playing a road game against the Dukes in Wellington is never an easy task.
“The people there really do love their team,” Krotiris said. “We go there, there’s people trying to get in our heads. We’re sitting on the bench and can hear a few people calling our names and trying to get us off our game in any way.”
Krotiris hopes for a great crowd Monday night in Cobourg for what will be an important game regardless of who wins the series opener Sunday.
“When we have a big audience in the stands we just want to play better for them,” he said. “The more the better for us and it will just help us out.”
Wellington (34-13-0-7) finished atop the OJHL East Division standings while the Cougars (28-19-1-6) were fourth.
“The Dukes are a great team, they’re first place in the division for a reason,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Wes Wolfe, noting Wellington’s high-powered offence and disciplined play which led to them being the least penalized team in the league. “The Duke Dome is always a hard building to play in. Getting off to a good start is critical in any playoff series, but it’s exasperated by the fact that it’s only a two-out-of-three series. We’re focused on trying to get a good start and taking it one shift at a time.”
Wellington is led by its top line of Emmet Pierce (44 goals, 36 assists), Jacob Vreugdenhil (23 goals, 43 assists) and David Campbell (21 goals, 45 assists), but its well-rounded offence also includes top defenceman Jonathan Balah as well as forwards Barret Joynt, Harrison Ballard, former Cougar Brodie McDougall and Port Hope native Graham Dickerson.
While the Dukes finished 12 points ahead of the Cougars, Wolfe said the standings don’t tell the full story.
Returning from the January layoff was like a new season for the Cougars, which won 14 games and at one point had a stretch of 11 straight games without a regulation loss. Against the Dukes they split the eight-game season series four apiece, both teams won in each other’s rinks and also won overtime games.
“We’re expecting a good, hard competitive series despite the fact they did finish 12 points ahead of us,” Wolfe said.
A lot of changes were made to the Cougars roster after mid-November due to injuries, suspension, trades and signings. Early in the campaign they added Kallaway Mercer from Port Hope who had previous Ontario Hockey League experience with the Kingston Frontenacs and was released from Peterborough Petes training camp. He went on to record 23 goals and 17 assists in 51 games with the Cougars.
Later in the season, Cobourg added two more players with major junior experience, including Charlie Charlie Da Fonseca, who spent parts of three seasons with the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the QMJHL and registered 31 points (15 goals, 16 assists) in 24 games with the Cougars, and AJ Cook who came from the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs. After a slow start with two goals in his first 10 games with Cobourg, Cook had nine goals and eight assists in his next 10.
In addition, Jakub Morier was added up front from the Lindsay Muskies and the Cougars bolstered their blueline with the additions of defencemen Devin Thibodeau from the Carleton Place Canadiens and Aaron Chiarot from the Oakville Blades.
In net, the Cougars acquired goaltender Justin Easter from the Pickering Panthers. He went on to post a 14-14-1 record with a 2.85 goals-against average and .915 save percentage.
“I think the pause from Christmas break through January due to COVID was actually a blessing in disguise for our team because it meant a new start,” Wolfe said. “It’s really felt like two different seasons with two different teams. Back at the start of February it was the first opportunity where it was like our team. It was sort of a culmination of that coming together.”
Another point of success for the Cougars this season has been players moving up to a higher level, this season or in the future.
At the end of training camp, Cobourg lost two players that were with them for development last year to the OHL as Gage Heyes moved up to Kingston and Thomas Stewart to the Oshawa Generals.
Meanwhile, Duncan Schneider and Mason Vaccari both signed with Kingston as well and have seen action this season with the Frontenacs while Tai York signed with the Barrie Colts and joined the OHL club full-time in January.
In other news this season, Krotiris has committed to NCAA D1 school Robert Morris University, Zack Smith to NCAA D3 SUNY-Cortland, Easter to NCAA D3 Norwich University, Tucker Firth to ACHA Niagara University, ,Justin Jamer to ACHA Adrian College, Da Fonseca to U Sports St. Mary’s University and Cook to U Sports Brock University.
“My priority is two-fold as the head coach and GM of this team,” Wolfe said. “Number one is obviously help the team fulfill its potential and win as many hockey games as possible. Also I think more importantly our organization believes that we need to help these players fulfill their potential as human beings and hockey players and so we take our role as a development league and development team very seriously. We’re extremely proud of the fact that we’ve had 12 commitments from our team since August 1 to move on to play at the next level.”
Wolfe expects more commitments in the near future. Moving players on can also help the Cougars bring talented new players into the organization.
“From a recruiting standpoint it positions us nicely that other players feel comfortable that this is a place they can come and develop and continue their hockey careers afterwards, but also for our players that are here this is a place that takes its role seriously in a development process and that we want to move our players on,” Wolfe said.
Krotiris’ commitment to Robert Morris is for the 2023-24 season after he plays his final season of junior eligibility with the Cougars next year.
“Cobourg is an unreal place to play,” Krotiris said, noting the emphasis on development through on-ice skill sessions and video available for all players.
“I think it’s also the group of guys that we have on this team. We play for each other. The more we play for each other, the better we play. We feel comfortable in the room which carries out onto the ice. Throughout the years it’s just been a great experience for me.”
