By Jeff Gard/Today’s Northumberland
The Cobourg Cougars’ playoff run has come to an end.
Four unanswered goals in the second period, including three within the first five minutes, paced the Toronto Jr. Canadiens to a 5-1 win over the Cougars in Game 4 of the Ontario Junior Hockey League South-Conference final Friday night in front of 1,238 spectators at the Cobourg Community Centre.
Toronto won the best-of-five series 3-1 to advance to the OJHL Buckland Cup championship series against the Pickering Panthers.
Emotions run high when a season comes to an end, especially for players graduating from the junior level. Cougars head coach and general manager Wes Wolfe had a simple message for his players following the game.
“I just told the guys how proud I was of this group. We were in last place in our division at the beginning of February and we went on an incredible run over the last 20 games and into the playoffs and I think just the amount of effort and commitment they had to each other as a group really showed,” Wolfe said. “We fought right to the very end of that game regardless of what was happening so just really proud of them.”
Toronto was without two key players due to suspension, including Christian Catalano who was their playoff leading scorer heading into Game 4, and Zev Podolski.
Tyler Fukakusa now leads the Jr. Canadiens with five goals and six assists through eight games after recording a hat trick Friday night.
After a scoreless first period, Fukakusa opened the scoring for the Jr. Canadiens just 49 seconds into the middle frame and tallied his second at the 3:06 mark. He notched his third late in the third period with his club up 4-1.
Ben Van Waterschoot and Jacob Bigras also scored for Toronto in the second period.
Cobourg killed off a lengthy 5-on-3 power play for the Jr. Canadiens that began late in the second period and continued into the third before Andy Reist tallied his league-leading seventh goal of the playoffs near the four-minute mark of the final frame.
“First period was back-and-forth, both teams kind of traded some chances. They took advantage of a couple mistakes there in the second period, a couple really good bounces, sometimes that’s just the way it goes,” Wolfe said. “We couldn’t seem to get too much going on offence. They did a great job clogging up the middle and taking away chances. That second period really took the game away from us.”
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Pickering coach Pearson watched with interest
Of the more than 1,200 in attendance, Pickering Panthers head coach Rob Pearson and his staff certainly had a vested interest. They were awaiting their Buckland Cup opponent after sweeping the North-West Conference series against the Milton Menace and are now undefeated through seven playoff contests.
“It’s definitely a lot more relaxing for us. We can come here and enjoy a good hockey game,” Pearson, the former Toronto Maple Leafs player and 2021-22 OJHL Coach of the Year award winner said.
Pearson and staff had been watching video of this series prior to Friday night as the Panthers were playing on the same nights as the other three contests.
“We’re getting to know these players. I’ve been up to Cobourg a few times during the season,” Pearson said. “You’re always keeping an eye on the other division just for maybe trades or anything like that, you have to keep updated on the players.”
Cobourg advanced to the conference finals by defeating the Wellington Dukes and Haliburton County Huskies in best-of-three series to capture the East Division title.
“I think in the East there were four really good teams there and only separated by 12 points,” Pearson said. “Really one to four it could’ve been anybody’s game and (the Cougars) showed up when it mattered.”
Pearson is also familiar with the CCC from having run minor hockey camps in the past through his employer Boyer Auto Group.
“Once COVID hit we weren’t able to do them, so probably next year I’ll be back here doing some more events through Boyer because we have a dealership here in town. We have 14 dealerships now so I go around where all the dealerships are and do hockey schools or just events – they’re called Boyer Hockey Day.”
Pearson enjoys visiting the CCC and Town of Cobourg.
“It’s probably one of the elite arenas for sure in Ontario, especially for our junior A level. It’s one of the best to come to. You can relax here, you can enjoy a drink, you’ve got lots of food and there’s always a decent crowd here,” he said. “My brother-in-law and my sister used to live in Cobourg so I’ve been here many times. I’ve got good friends here. I do really enjoy the Cobourg community and the arena.”
