The Pontiac Senior Comets’ season came to an end on Thursday as the team lost the deciding game of its three-game playoff series in Arnprior against the Rivermen, 5-1.
The Comets, who won the first game of the series before dropping the second in Fort Coulonge, conceded a goal early in the first period of the third game, playing nearly two full periods before tying the score 1-1 with less than a minute to go in the second frame.
But that would be the only goal the visitors would reap that night, as the hometown Rivermen netted four unanswered goals in a span of less than three minutes, to clinch the game and the series.
Darcy Findlay, who took over head coaching duties about a month ago, said he felt the team played well despite the series loss.
“The shots weren’t close, the special teams battles weren’t close, their goalie stood on his head,” he said.
“They scored a late goal to tie it in game two, and they scored a late goal to go ahead in game three, and the wheels fell off after that.”
He said in the end it was the team’s lineup inconsistencies, a common issue in senior hockey, that came back to bite them.
“We were strapped a little bit. It’s not an excuse, but injuries come up, family situations, other things in people’s lives,” he said, adding that finding a more consistent lineup will be one of the team’s priorities going into next season.
Despite these struggles he is excited to take the team’s momentum into next season and hopefully improve on their first-round playoff exit.
“We’re very excited to build off of what we had this year for year one,” he said. “We’re going to have to reflect and find ways to improve, and that will include some new bodies and some new pieces.”
Findlay, who organized several themed community nights while the team was playing its home games in Shawville at the start of the season, said he is looking forward to finding more ways to bring the community together, both in Shawville and Fort Coulonge.
“If you’re going to have success trying to run these types of organizations, you’ve got to get the community involved,” he said. “The support was there for us, which was great to see.”
