J.D. Potié
FORT COULONGE
March. 7, 2019
On Thursday, the Fort-Coulonge Midget Comets defeated the Muskrat 2 Warriors by a commanding score of 7-3, picking up their second playoff win in six games and bringing their record to 2-4-0 with four points in total.
The next day, they traveled to Cobden to face-off with Muskrat 1 in their final game, before March break. The Warriors won by a score of 5-1.
With their starting goalie out of commission with an injury, the Comets head coach, Marc Duval knew Thursday’s matchup wasn’t going to be easy, so the team’s mindset was to play clean and to have fun.
“The first message was to go out there and have fun,” said Duval. “Play together as a team, penalties try to minimize that. Make everybody play equal, but my first message to the boys was have fun.”
Coming into the game with only nine skaters and a replacement goalie, versus a full Muskrat squad, coach Duval was proud of his team’s effort.
“The only thing that I can say about that game is that my players fought hard,” said Duval. “They played a very good game, a passing game, they played together. It was one of our best team wins, especially with a goalie that never played before… I think he did a really good job.”
From the first puckdrop, the Comets wasted no time marking their presence, sniping a goal just 30 seconds in with a slap-shot from defenseman Sebastien Duval making it 1-0. But the Warriors struck back less than half a minute later, tying it up at one.
From that point on, the Comets barely relented, notching three unanswered goals, before going into the mid-way portion of the second period, including one from their captain Maxime Asselin on a two-one-one wrist-shot that squeaked past the opposing net-minder.
The Warriors scored one on the powerplay with under five minutes to go in the second frame, making it 4-2 for Comets going into the third.
The final period provided much of the same, as Fort-Coulonge added three more, while shutting down Muskrat’s offense, eventually ending the game with a final score of 7-3.
Asselin led the offense for the Comets, finishing the game with three points, including two goals and an assist.
“We wanted to get the second goal quick, so we could have a big advantage,” said Asselin. “And put the other team down, and build on those goals to move forward and win.”
Coming out of the game with the win and the game puck as his team’s MVP, goaltender Martin Pilon admits he felt nervous before the game, however he noted that the play of his team restored his confidence quite a bit.
“My team passed very good,” said Pilon. “We played very well as a team. I was kind of nervous before the game, because they have a pretty good team on the other side. So yeah, we did pretty good.”
When asked about his favourite part of the experience was, his coach interrupted and said “the final buzzer”, to which Pilon smiled and nodded.
While Pilon exited the dressing room, coach Duval along with other players flooded him with cheers, as they shouted “Gunner, Gunner, Gunner, Gunner”, showing appreciation for their goalie’s outstanding performance.
Now sitting in fifth place in the A division, the Comets chances at making it to the elimination stage of the playoffs are quite low. However, that won’t keep coach Duval’s players from keeping the right mindset for the rest of the way.
“We’re in a situation right now where I think it’s gonna be hard to go to the finals in the playoffs,” said Duval. “But the biggest thing about that win, I think is for the morale. It’s good for the kid’s intentions as well, probably for the future. But yeah, a morale win tonight, and it’s good for the team.”
