Cougar Win Puts Them in Playoffs
NORCAL tournament next weekend in San JoseMarch 17, 2002
The Cougars beat the Santa Clara Blackhawks 5-2 to finish the regular season tied for second place and qualify for the NORCAL playoffs next weekend. It was a long week for all the Cougar families as none of scenarios from the previous weekend had come through, and with Santa Rosa's victory over Capital Thunder yesterday, the Cougars had fate in their own hands. Win and they're in - lose and it's home for a long summer.
The last few weeks of the regular season has been exciting. Several teams have come on and finished strong to challenge the upper echelon of the league. Santa Rosa won their last four games of the season, and until their loss to Tri Valley this weekend, Vacaville had won six in a row. With the Cougars losing two of their last three and Capital Thunder losing two of their last four, that gave the other two teams a chance to sneak and take a playoff spot away from one of them. It came right down to the wire with Capital Thunder and the Cougars finishing with 18 points, and Vacaville and Santa Rosa ending up just one point behind with 17. Santa Rosa wins the tiebreaker with Vacaville to capture the final playoff spot (they finished 1-1 against each other, but Santa Rosa outscored Vacaville 10-7).
The Cougars are seeded #3 in the tournament as Capital Thunder won the tiebreaker because they outscored the Cougars when the teams exchanged victories against each other during the regular season. Jerry had given the team a goal of 20 points for the season, and the team came close. A couple of calls or breaks in a couple of games early in the season, and they would have had it.
As for today's game, both teams came out psyched - the Cougars as they knew their playoff spot was on the line and the Blackhawks knew it too. Knocking the Cougars out would have made their season. There's lots of history between these teams that has continued even as the players move on over the years. Just last year, the Cougars lost to the Blackhawks every time they played during the season, but beat them in the playoffs to end their season while the Cougars went on to win the state championship.
|  | | Keaton |
The Blackhawks struck first at 11:46 when Noah Segall broke free after a scrum along the boards and put in a tough shot from the bottom of the circle. The trend with the Cougars lately has been if they didn't respond quickly, it would be a long uphill battle. Then at 9:21, Alex Lagemann scored on a blast from the blue line that snuck through a crowd in front of the net. The Cougars continued attacking and had several great scoring chances that either just missed connecting on a pass, just missed the net, or was stoned by the Blackhawk goalie. Late in the first period, Keaton Ohara |  | | Greg |
ripped a shot from the top of the slot that Greg Schuck put home on beautiful tip that the netminder simply had no chance to stop. The Cougars took a lead they wouldn't give back. Nick Lavarias finished the scoring for the period when the jammed one in after some nice passing on his line with Jeff Adam and Stephen Fragoza. The Cougars outshot the Blackhawks 16-2 for the period and took a 3-1 lead into the second. Fifteen minutes down, thirty minutes now to a playoff spot.........
The second period continued much as the first, but without the scoring. The Cougars continued on the attack and outshot the Blackhawks 14-3 for the period. Many of the 14 shots were quality scoring chances on rebounds, which is what the Cougars have been lacking for the past few games. Finally at 1:58, Keaton got his second assist on when Alex Lotti ripped one home to make the score 4-1. Thirty minutes down, fifteen to go..........
The Blackhawks tried to make a game of it in the third. They closed the score to 4-2 when Barrett Nettleman got one past Jordan Fragoza only 1:13 into the period. The edge was back on as a two-goal game came go either way in a matter of minutes. But the |  | | Jordan |
Cougars held firm and outshot the Blackhawks 11-7 for the period. The majority of the Blackhawks shots came in the early surge they put on but then the Cougar team defense closed the vise even tighter and kept the puck down in the Blackhawk end most of the time from then on out. Keaton completed his 3-point day with a goal at 5:42 to close out the scoring. The Blackhawks put on one more surge late in the game and kept the puck in the zone for the last two minutes of the game. The last minute had the players on the bench and the crowd on their feet cheering the players on and acknowledging the great team effort for all 45 minutes. Jordan completed his excellent game by throwing aside a couple of late chances and then had to withstand the pounding he received in congratulations from the rest of the team after the final horn sounded. Forty-five minutes of great Cougar hockey and a win they truly deserved.
Playoff-bound Cougars! It has a nice ring to it; especially after the ups-and-downs and uncertainty of the past few weeks. The Cougars now go into the playoffs on a roll and with the confidence they are going to need to compete. |
