Cougars Get Much Needed Win

December 11
 
The Cougars took their 27th trip to Oakland this year (or so it seemed) today for an exhibition game against the Tri-Valley Blue Devils #2 team.  With their inspired play down in Anaheim and renewed confidence, this was a game the Cougars knew they should win.  Just play another solid game for 45 minutes.

Well that didn't happen, and in a game that had momentum shifting from team to team, the Cougars scored two early power play goals, then gave up three in a very uninspired time in the second and third periods, and then kicked it into gear and scored three goals in the last half of the third period to win 5-3.

The Cougars played well both early and late and the Blue Devils played well for most of the second period and part of the third.  Other than that, it seemed it was a game that neither team wanted to win.  Sloppy play all over the ice with little continuity and little flow.  Part of this was due to the number of penalties (25) and the constant stoppages in play because of them.  These actually dictated the flow of the game more than the players as the Blue Devils were called for a few, then the Cougars, then the Blue Devils, back and forth including a few 5-on-3's.  Plus the players weren't real sure what would be called for penalty and this seemed to take away some of the aggressiveness from the players.

The Cougars have playing well when they get ahead and they jumped out quickly today when Zach Bevens and Brett DeLorenzi scored power play goals in the first 2:11 of the game.  And they had many other opportunities in the first that could have put the game away early but just couldn't convert, but they were playing well and keeping the Blue Devils from any real scoring chances.

The second period was a different story though as the Cougars out-penaltied the Blue Devils 6-2 including several that were really dumb (to be perfectly honest) on the part of the Cougars.  This gave the Blue Devils the chance to jump right back in and they took advantage of it by scoring twice in the period to tie up the game.

The Cougars still couldn't get their act together as the third period got underway and the Blue Devils capitalized and took their first lead of the game at the 9:24 mark.  But the Cougars weren't going to let this one slip away and finally turned it up a gear, first when Brett DeLorenzi slipped past the defense and scored, and then 12 seconds later when Alan Nguyen did the same thing.  The Cougars had their lead back, this time 4-3.

The Blue Devils made it tough on themselves for the rest of the game, having three penalties called (I still didn't see them) and keeping the Cougars on the power play basically through the end of the game.  At the 1:03 mark, another Cougar slipped past the defense and hit the back of the net.  This time it was Max DeLance with a power play goal to seal the victory for the Cougars.  Zach Bevens collected his fourth assist of the game on Max's goal to complete his 5-point game!

Although it was a much-needed win for the Cougars, they can't take much solace in it.  They simply didn't play that well as a team and are really going to have to step it up and be more consistent to compete with the tougher teams in this league.