Cougars Win 3-2 Battle With Thunder

March 2, 2002
The Cougars stretch their regular season unbeaten streak to five with a hard fought 3-2 win over the Capital Thunder to move into sole possession of 2nd place. This was an extremely physical game that the officials struggled to keep control of. The Thunder game plan was obviously to come out and physically take it to the smaller Cougars. What they didn't know was that the Cougars excel in this type of game. It just seems like a Friday night practice to them. The Cougars actually did a real good job restraining themselves after the Thunder began bending the rules further and further. The officials did call several penalties, but either didn't see or chose to ignore about 3/4 of them.

For the many people at the game who focused on the officials, they missed out on a

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well played defensive battle. Both teams were solid on the defensive end of the ice and in the net. Jonathan Wilson was outstanding between the pipes for the Cougars, using his lateral movement to cover both sides of his crease as many plays were behind the net and smothering the puck during the frequent scrums right in front of him. The defense did a great job of standing Thunder players up at the blue line and consistently forced them to the outside, away from the net. About the only solid shot the Thunder were allowed were slap shots from the top of the circles and even then they had a Cougar either on their back or in their face. This continued during the critical last few minutes of the game as the Thunder was on a power play after a Cougar penalty at 2:28, and they pulled their goalie for a two-man advantange. The Cougars gave them absolutely nothing during this time and hardly even let the Thunder enter the zone.

The Thunder did not allow the Cougars a whole lot either. They pulled everyone down deep and protected the center of the ice very well. But this freed up the Cougars on

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the blue line, especially Alex Lagemann and Augie Lagemann, to keep the puck in the zone and fire slap shots at the net. Two of Augie's blasts from the point on power plays made it through the crowd around the net and past the Thunder goaltender for his 2nd and 3rd goals of the regular season. The Cougars' also scored the first goal of the game with some nifty passes from Stephen Fragoza and Jeff Adam found Nick Lavarias free in the front of the slot for his 12th goal.

Overall, this was a great game for the Cougars. They stepped up their play to beat one of the other quality teams in the league, and showed the spirit and the moxie plus the discipline, to beat them at their own game.