Cougars Sneak by Colts To Stretch
Unbeaten Streak to Four

February 23, 2002
In a game that was way too close for comfort, the visiting Cougars snuck by the Stockton Colts 6-4 to extend their unbeaten streak to four in the regular season and up their record to 6-2-2. It sure wasn't an easy victory though as the Cougars were on the short end of a 4-3 score with less than 10 minutes to go in the game.

A review of the game overall showed the Cougars playing a pretty good game. About the only thing they didn't do really well was hitting the back of the net. The passing in the transition game was going great with each forward line contributing. Little time was spent between the blue lines when the Cougars had the puck. One, two or three passes after coming out of the defensive zone would move the puck down the ice and into the zone. There the passing got a little bogged down as the Colts would collapse and clog the middle. The team is very close to exploding. A little more work on this and many more scoring chances are there for the taking.

	Stephen

Stephen Fragoza and Greg Schuck were the offensive stars for the Cougars today. Stephen netted four goals, most of which were a result of some great individual effort on his part. One memorable goal came as the Cougars were making a line change when Stephen had the puck coming out of the Cougar end. As Stephen entered the Colt zone, he was surrounded in a 1-on-5 situation. A couple of moves later, the rubber hit the twine. Beautiful.

	Greg

Both of Greg's goals came at important junctures in the game. His first came 36 seconds in when he pounded home a rebound after Nick Morrison's blast from the point was blocked. This gave the Cougars the very important early lead. His second goal was at 9:02 of the third period and tied the game at 4-4. The goal was a result of some beautiful passing between Greg and Amber Moore and seemed to take some of the wind out of Stockton's sails. When Stephen scored 1:03 later, it deflated them the rest of the way.

The gold-winning Canadian Olympic team followed the credo of their 1952 counterparts, the 3 "H"s: Hit 'em hard, Hit 'em clean and Hit the net. Cougar "H" scorecard: YES (pounded them), YES (mostly, but they had 5 penalties), and YES (6 goals, but the opportunity was there for many more).