Story posted Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Cougars Bow To AWF In Blackhawk Cup, 6-3
By STEPHEN GORDON Correspondent
The idea of coming out and playing physical at this time of the year is important to hockey teams who want to go far in the playoffs. For the Conant Cougars (28-19-9), this had to take place in their Blackhawk Cup quarter-final match-up against the combined team of Addison Trail/Willowbrook/Fenton (AWF).
However, taking penalties at wrong times and not finishing checks cost the Cougars a 6-3 loss at the hands of AWF (30-11-5) Monday night at the Edge Ice Arena in Bensenville.
"I thought we played with a sense of urgency tonight," Cougars coach Matt Turinsky said. "The boys battled out there tonight I thought. Our problem was we just made too many mental mistakes with the puck and they (AWF) capitalized on our mental mistakes and that was the game."
Turinsky said the plan going into the game was to get as many pucks to the net and get as much traffic in front of AWF starting goaltender Nate Pecoraro (22 saves). The problem was it never quite happened because of turning the puck over one too many times either in the neutral zone or in the Cougars own zone.
"Any successful hockey team at this time of the year has to have a physical presence on the ice," Turinsky said. "At times tonight and even during the season, our physical play was non-existent. When it was there, we were a successful team."
Conant, made up of players from Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates and Conant, fell behind 1-0 with 13:22 left in the first period when AWF scored a power play goal off the stick of forward Brian Cree (2G) who beat Cougars goalie Kyle Weiner (28 saves) from in close. The Cougars would come back to tie the game at 1-1 with just :20 seconds left in the opening period when Kyle Hrycko sent a low shot along the ice past Pecoraro.
However, the Cougars would be outscored 3-1 in the second frame despite only taking one minor penalty in the period. In fact, the Cougars would only be whistled for six minor penalties the entire game.
One bright spot in the game was the play of forward Ryan Colby who scored two goals in the game, one in each the second period and the third period.
"I will not pin this loss on our goaltender Kyle Weiner," Turinsky said. "He is one of the main reasons we got to this position this year. It was a group effort and everyone, including the coaching staff is responsible for this loss tonight."
Hockey notes: The CHS Cougars hockey team, made up of players from Conant, Hoffman Estates and Schaumburg high schools, recently received two prestigious awards. Goaltender Kyle Weiner (Conant) received the best goaltender award in the Chicago Metro Northwest division, while head coach Matt Turinsky received the coach of the year award from Chicago Metro. The Cougars compiled a winning season record of 28 wins, 18 losses and 7 ties. Weiner's goals against average was a sparkling 2.16.
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