Causeway Cougars
Congratulations to Front Row - Dane Blais, Hunter Calder, Lane Mann, Matthew Berube, Cameron Jolicoeur, Joshua Calder and Lynden Bruyere. Back Row - Damon Smith, Ben Whitburn, Kobe Gardiman, Dominick Allan and Adrian Whithead Missing from photograph - Alexis-Faith Perrault Coaches - Kelly Jolicoeur, Paul Blais and Pete Gardiman.
Causeway Insurance Cougars
The local Atom Causeway Cougars had a strong showing in the 12th Annual Westfort Hockey Tournament November 8-11 2007 in Thunder Bay.
The Cougars started the tournament with a 7-2 victory over the Elk's Powerskating Ducks, with Kobe Gardiman leading the way with an amazing 5 goal performance.
The Cougar's second game was against the league leading North End Flames. The Cougars came out strong and dominated much of the play, but were unable to score on the Flames goaltender Christian Palmquist who was fantastic between the pipes and earned the Flames a 2-0 victory over the Cougars.
Causeway rebounded with a solid performance in their third game, taking a first period lead 4-2 over the Current River Comets. The Cougars maintained the pressure throughout the rest of the game and came away with a 5-2 win over the Comets. Dane Blais and Damon Smith each scored 2 goals and Kobe Gardiman picked up his 6th goal of the tournament. The Cougars finished round robin play in 2nd place behind the North End Flames.
Next up for the Cougars was a playoff game against the KC Devils. The Cougars took an early 2-0 lead in the first period with goals from Kobe Gardiman and Hunter Calder. There was no scoring in the second period. The KC Devils came out strong in the third catching the Cougars by surprise with two quick goals to tie the score. The two teams then battled for the go a head goal. Late in the third period the Cougars were deep in the KC Devils zone. A great play by Causeway's defenceman Ben Whitburn to keep the puck in the Devil's zone proved to be the difference because Whitburn was then able to set up the Cougar's Kobe Gardiman who was able to spin and put the puck past the Devil's goaltender for the win and his eighth goal of the tournament.
Causeway's next challenge was the championship game and facing the team they had lost to earlier in the tournament, the North End Flames. Both teams started the game strong. The action was back and forth with both teams having some great scoring chances. Both goaltenders Lane Mann for the Cougars and Christian Palmquist for the Flames were fantastic keeping the score 0-0 after 3 periods of play. The game went into overtime and the Flames had a great chance early in the game but Lane Mann once again held them off the board. Next the Cougars stormed down the ice with Dane Blais leading the charge. He put a nice move on the Flames goaltender and shot. The puck hit the post and laid on the ice infront of the goal line and again the Flames goaltender was able to keep it out at the last second. With exactly 3 minutes to play in overtime the Flames were deep in the Cougars zone and finally got a lucky bounce enabling Matthew Mustapic to make a nice pass by the Cougars goalie to Alastair LeConte who found himself alone infront of the Cougars goal. LeConte scored and the Flames won an exciting overtime game.
The Coaches for Causeway were extremely proud of the way the team played. They had a solid tournament and played with a great team effort. Our goaltending, defence and forwards all contributed as a whole for a great overall team perfomance.
