Cougars And Generals Battle In An Game With An Odd Flow

This game had a little of everything strange. Two separate incidents of awkward hits that led to players leaving the game with possible serious injuries. The glass getting knocked out of the boards twice. One of the Linesmen being forced to leave the game because he couldn’t get the cut on his face to stop bleeding. And with all that? A decent hockey game that had Strange scoring twice.

Jacob Thomas of the Generals fell into the boards very hard, face first, after taking a run at Trey Anderson. He missed most of Anderson and crashed into the boards bending his back much too far backwards. He was in obvious pain, and after a delay was helped off the ice by teammates and the athletic therapist. He did seem to be holding his own weight.

Tory McClintick left the game after a collision in his own end looked to bend his knee in an awkward direction. After another delay he was helped off the ice with the help of his teammates and the athletic therapist. He did not put any weight on that leg.

The glass got knocked out twice. Both times led to a delay as well. The rink maintenance worker on duty was great though. He fixed the glass much faster than we expected. And luckily the glass itself wasn’t broken. That has happened during a Cougars game on a few occasions and the delays are very long when that happens.

Near the end of the contest one of the linesmen was on the unfortunate end of a hit from Brett Arnet and Parker Jorginson. Those two are both 6’5″ and weigh 220lbs, each. And neither were moving slowly. Arnet and Jorginson collided into the boards, unfortunately for the linesman he was between them and the boards. He was forced to leave the game because the cut he sustained couldn’t be closed properly on the bench.

Throughout all of the delays in this game there was in fact a game played. Kieran Strange led the Cougars with two powerplay goals and the eventual game winner. He also picked up the player of the game honours. Aidan Mailhot got the lone marker for the Gens early in the game.

The game itself was filled with hits, chippy play, after the whistle extracurriculars, and plenty of smack talk. In the first preseason game of the year these two teams played but did not finish that game after Chase Heslop hit Nick Dumonceaux behind the net that led to paramedics needing to be called and Nick taking a trip to Emerg. You could tell the Cougars didn’t forget.

Ben Brant grabbed his 5th of the year and Estey scored his first goal in four games shorthanded. That was only the third shorty in the league this year.

Next up for the Cougars is Saanich at home on Sunday. The last time those two played the Cougars smacked them around to the tune of 8-0. I am sure Saanich has a foul taste in their mouth and wants some revenge.