CARLYLE - It was an exciting afternoon for hockey fans at the Carlyle Sports Arena on Feb. 9 when the Carlyle Cougars took on the Raymore Rockets in their first provincial senior playoff game.
“We are excited to be part of this ... hockey,” said Tyler Fleck, head coach of the Cougars. “We are sitting in a very good spot, and we have some exciting players that the fans will enjoy.”
The Rockets are the No. 2 team in all of Saskatchewan senior hockey, and Fleck knows the Cougars will have to give it their all to come out on top. They will not be able to let their guard down while playing Raymore.
With the stands nearly full, Teagan Littlechief from the White Bear First Nations belted out O Canada, and then it was game time.
Within the first six minutes of puck drop, Raymore received a penalty for tripping, sending the Cougars to a power play, but Raymore was able to kill off the penalty.
Also, Jonny Gaudet from the Cougars was taken off the ice with an injury. He received an upper body injury and is expected to be out of play for two weeks. Fleck said it was not as bad as they initially thought, but they hate to lose a player due to injury.
At the end of the first period, there was no score and shots on goal were close as each team played hard.
Both teams headed into the second period full force, but with 15:34 to play in the frame, the Cougars' Josh Romanyk found the back of the Raymore net.
Twelve seconds later, Taysen Holt blasted one past Raymore’s goaltender Daniel Wapple to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead.
The excitement continued when Romanyk scored his second a few minutes later.
After the Cougars received a penalty and Raymore had a power play, the Rockets scored to make it a 3-1 game.
Zeanan Ziemer planted one past Wapple, and then Romanyk sent the crowd in a frenzy when he scored a third time, giving him a hat trick. The second period ended with a 5-1 score for the Cougars, but Raymore was leading in shots on net.
Shortly into the third, Ben Johnstone made the score 6-1 for the Cougars, but this game was long from over.
Raymore soon scored to pull to within 6-2, and they began to pull their goalie. The Rockets pulled to within two, and with 2:04 left in the game, Raymore scored once more, it was now 6-5 and the spectators started to get concerned when the Rockets pulled their goalie once again.
It was an intense few minutes with fast hockey, but the Cougars pulled it off with a 6-5 win. Raymore had 45 shots on net, while the Cougars had 25.
The next two games in the best-of-three series are in Raymore on Feb. 14 and 16.
Fleck said for now they will focus on the provincial series, after they swept the Midale Mustangs in three games straight.
In the league playoffs they will now face the Moosomin Rangers, who are the defending champions, and Fleck knows that this will be a tough series as well.
