It was a tough battle between the Cobourg Cougars and Haliburton County Huskies in Game 2 of the best-of-three OJHL East Division final on Monday night at the Cobourg Community Centre. (Photo by Jeff Gard)
By Jeff Gard/Today’s Northumberland
A third game is required to decide the Ontario Junior Hockey League East Division final between the Cobourg Cougars and Haliburton County Huskies.
Sam Solarino scored 3:28 into overtime to give the Huskies a 2-1 win Monday night in front of an announced crowd of 1,544 spectators at the Cobourg Community Centre and even the best-of-three series at one game apiece.
“I thought we played really hard tonight. We had a lot of really good chances late in the third period and their goalie played extremely well,” said Cougars head coach Wes Wolfe. “Give them credit, I mean their back was against the wall, we knew they weren’t going to be an easy out so we just have to have a short memory and get back ready to do the same thing we did last game on Wednesday.”
Game 3 is set for Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Minden.
Monday night was the first loss in the OJHL playoffs for the Cougars, coming off a two-game sweep of the Wellington Dukes, while the Huskies had to rally to win two straight against the Trenton Golden Hawks in the first round.
“The format, I said this before the playoffs started, it doesn’t really favour anybody,” Wolfe said. “It’s a sprint, it’s not a marathon so you don’t have time to ease your way into these games. We’ll expect another hotly contested match on Wednesday.”
Justin Jamer opened the scoring for the Cougars in Game 2 with a shorthanded goal 8:30 into the second period and a minute remaining on a Huskies power play.
In the third, the Huskies caught a break due to a broken stick of a Cougars player and Payton Schaly took advantage to score at the 7:42 mark of that final frame and tie the game 1-1.
Goaltender Christian Cicigoi made 27 saves to pick up the win in net for Haliburton while Justin Easter was strong in making 25 saves in a losing cause for Cobourg.
“I thought we were the better team. The only goal that they scored in regulation was off a broken stick. They got a really fortunate bounce,” Wolfe said. “We limited a lot of the chances against and I thought we had a lot of opportunities to win it in the third. I thought their goalie played extremely well, we couldn’t seem to find our finish, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Now it all comes down to Game 3 for the right to advance to the OJHL’s conference finals.
“We’ve said from the outset, the team that remains committed to their structure and to their game plan the longest is going to be the one who’s standing at the end,” Wolfe said. “They’re a really detailed team, they’re very committed to their structure, but we’re very much the same. The cracks started to show at different times and hopefully we can make sure that we’re the team that stays committed to the finish on Wednesday.”
