The South Grenville Rangers welcomed the Vankleek Hill Cougars to the Ingredion Centre in Cardinal on Sat., March 16, for game five of the best of seven NCJHL semifinal. The Rangers’ captain, Carson Pickup (81) chased a rebound off the Cougars’ goalie, Frederick Durocher’s pad. The Rangers blew a couple of leads in the game and fell to the Cougars in overtime 5-4. Moore photo
VANKLEEK HILL—The South Grenville Rangers had a busy week with five playoff games as they welcomed the Vankleek Hill Cougars on Tuesday night for game two, travelled to Vankleek Hill on Wednesday night for game three, back to Vankleek Hill for game four on Friday night, welcomed the Cougars on Saturday night for game five and finally game six back in Vankleek Hill.
Cougars 5 Rangers 4
The South Grenville Rangers travelled to the Vankleek Hill Arena on Sun., March 17, to take on the Cougars in game six of the best of seven NCJHL semifinal. The Cougars were coming off a 5-4 victory in overtime the previous night so the Rangers needed to win this game to force a game seven.
The Cougars opened the scoring at 4:18 of the first period as Justin Labrosse scored from Jacob Trempe and Hugo Blanchard taking a 1-0 lead. The Cougars made it 2-0 when Nic Castonguay scored from Ryan Allen at 10:42 and took that lead into the first intermission.
The Cougars’ Jonathan Lacroix scored a shorthanded goal at 13:28 of the second period taking a three-goal lead. The Cougars made it 4-0 when Tyler Dopelhamer scored from Labrosse and Danny Plourde Grenon at 16:39.
The Rangers finally got on the board with just seven seconds remaining in the middle frame as Jack Finnerty roofed one from Mathieu Giroux and Brody Ranger on the power play. The Cougars took a 4-1 lead into the second intermission.
The Rangers cut the deficit in half when Tristan Loomis slapped one home from the blue line unassisted at 5:27 of the third period on the power play. The Rangers got to within one as Finnerty scored his second of the game from Loomis and Jordan Poulin at 5:44.
The Cougars restored a two-goal lead when Labrosse scored his second of the game from Trempe and Dopelhamer at 6:02. With time winding down in regulation, the Rangers pulled their goalie in favour of an extra attacker and it paid off as Ranger swatted one home from Zach Hotte and Finnerty with just 1:13 remaining.
The Rangers put their goalie back in the net for a few seconds and pulled him again with under 45 seconds remaining and put the pressure on the Cougars. The Cougars took a shot at the empty goal but missed causing a face-off to the right of their goalie with under 15 seconds remaining.
The Rangers won the draw and had a couple of shots blocked in front of the net and with just two seconds remaining, the Rangers got the puck to the goal crease causing a big scramble in front of the net but the buzzer sounded before they could get the puck to cross the goal line.
The Cougars took the game 5-4 and the series 4-2 ending a great season for the Rangers in just their second year in the league. Picking up the win in the Cougars’ goal was Frederick Durocher and suffering the loss in the Rangers’ goal was Lee Spurgeon. The Cougars move on to face the Clarence Castors in the NCJHL final.
The Rangers celebrate after scoring their first goal late in the second period. The Rangers’ Jack Finnerty scored the goal and Mathieu Giroux (9) and Jordan Poulin helped with the celebration. The goal sparked the Rangers as they battled back from down 4-0, to come to within one as the clock wound down. Moore photo
Cougars 5 Rangers 4 (OT)
The South Grenville Rangers welcomed the Vankleek Hill Cougars to the Ingredion Centre in Cardinal on Sat., March 16, for game five of the best of seven NCJHL semifinal. The Rangers were coming off a big 9-3 victory over the Cougars and looked to take a stranglehold on the series with a victory.
The Rangers opened the scoring when Cole Edgley rippled one from Jordan Dodge at 11:13 of the first period on the power play to take a 1-0 lead. The Rangers made it 2-0 when Cameron Dillon snapped one home from Brayden Forestell and Jack Finnerty just 45 seconds later.
The Cougars cut the deficit in half when Jacob Trempe scored from Justin Labrosse and Tyler Dopelhamer at 13:36. The Rangers restored their two-goal lead when Dodge blasted one home from Forestell at 2:13 of the second period.
The Cougars got back to within one as Nic Castonguay scored from Plourde Grenon at 7:18. The Rangers took a 3-2 lead into the second intermission.
The Rangers again, took a two-goal lead when Dodge scored his second of the game at 3:34 of the third period from Brody Ranger.
The Cougars got back to within one as Jacob Trempe scored an unassisted goal at 7:36 and tied the game when Jonathan Lacroix scored from Labrosse and Dopelhamer on the power play at 12:55. Neither team was able to score the game winner before the end of regulation so the game headed to a 10-minute overtime session.
Just 59 seconds into the extra frame, the Cougars’ Joey Simoneau shot one, unassisted, just inside the right post past the Rangers’ goalie Lee Spurgeon. The Cougars took the game 5-4 and a 3-2 series lead heading back to Vankleek Hill.
Picking up the win in the Cougars’ goal was Frederick Durocher and suffering the loss in the Rangers’ goal was Spurgeon.
The Rangers’ forward, Cole Edgely (21) celebrates after scoring the game’s second goal to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead in the first period of game 5. The Rangers ended up losing the game 5-4 in overtime. Moore photo
Rangers 9 Cougars 3
The South Grenville Rangers travelled to the Vankleek Hill Arena on Fri., March 15, to take on the Cougars in game four of the best of seven of the NCJHL semifinal. The Rangers were coming off a tough 8-1 loss to the Cougars in their previous meeting and looked to tie the series back up at two.
The Rangers had a full bench for this game. The Rangers opened the scoring at 3:37 of the first period as Brody Ranger scored from Mathieu Giroux and took a two-goal lead at the five-minute mark as Carson Pickup scored from Jack Finnerty and Brayden Forestell.
The Rangers made it 3-0 when Finnerty scored from Joe MacLean and Forestell at 9:21 on the power play. The Cougars finally got one to go as Keean McEachern scored from Jacob Trempe and Justin Labrosse at 15:16 on the power play. The Rangers took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission.
The Rangers restored their three-goal lead when Pickup scored his second of the game from Giroux just 1:04 into the second period. The Cougars got back to within two as Nic Castonguay scored from Vincent Huneault at 6:38 but the Rangers answered as Ranger sniped his second of the night from Jordan Dodge and Tristan Loomis at 13:48.
The Rangers added another late goal at 17:04 as Ranger scored his third of the game from Cameron Dillon and Dodge and took a 6-2 lead into the second intermission. The Rangers made it 7-2 as Forestell pounded one home from Dodge on the power play at 13:24 but the Cougars answered at 15:55 as Danny Plourde Grenon scored from Labrosse on the power play.
The Rangers added another goal at 17:48 as Forestell scored his second of the game from Finnerty and Pickup. The Rangers closed out the scoring when Noah Edmonds snapped one home from Dillon and Hayden Sayeau on the power play with just 13 seconds remaining.
The Rangers took the game 9-3 tying the series at two games apiece. Picking up the win in the Rangers’ goal was Lee Spurgeon and suffering the loss in the Cougars’ goal was Alex Labreche.
Cougars 8 Rangers 1
The South Grenville Rangers travelled to the Vankleek Hill Arena on Wed., March 13, to take on the Cougars in game three of the best of seven of the NCJHL semifinal. The teams went into the game all knotted up at two games apiece but the Rangers were short benched due to the bad weather.
The Cougars took game one 5-2 and the Rangers took game two 6-5 in overtime. The Cougars scored the lone goal of the first period as Tyler Dopelhamer scored from Justin Labrosse and Jacob Trempe at the 11-minute mark taking a 1-0 lead.
The Cougars took the 1-0 lead into the first intermission. The Rangers tied the game as Jordan Dodge lit the lamp from Cole Edgley at 5:01 of the second period but the Cougars got that one back at 6:26 as Jonathan Lacroix scored from Vincent Huneault and Zack Phaneuf.
The Cougars took a two-goal lead when Lacroix scored his second of the game from Keean McEachern and Labrosse on the power play at 12:50 and took a three goal lead at 16:43 as Nic Castonguay scored from Tristan Lavoie Hugo Blanchard on another power play. The Cougars took a 4-1 lead into the second intermission.
It was all Cougars in the third period as the Rangers short bench was running out of fuel. The Cougars took a 5-1 lead at 9:53 as Nik Ayotte scored from McEachern and Castonguay on the power play and 6-1 at 12:24 when Castonguay scored his second of the game from Lavoie and Ryan Allen.
The Cougars took a six-goal lead when Lacroix completed his hat trick from Phaneuf and Ayotte on the power play at 17:22. The Cougars closed out the scoring when Lacroix scored his fourth of the game from Lavoie and Ayotte at 17:44 on the power play.
The Cougars took the game 8-1 and a 2-1 series lead. Picking up the win in the Cougars’ goal was Alex Labreche and suffering the loss in the Rangers’ goal was Lee Spurgeon.
