With the result, the Comets sit in first place in the Outaouais Senior AA Hockey League (OSAAHL) standings with a 9-4-0 record, six points ahead of the second-place Maniwaki Forestiers.

Coming into the game against the last-ranked team in the league, the Comets knew that they had to come out strong and avoid complacency in order to come back home with the two points and extend its successful streak.

In the first period, the boys from Coulonge fell behind early, allowing two goals in the first eight minutes of the game, including a shorthanded marker.

But, just under 12 minutes in, Comet’s forward Matthew Warren reduced the deficit to one with his 11th goal of the campaign assisted by David Fouche on the powerplay.

A little more than a minute later, Olivier Donovan’s made it 2-2 with his second goal of the season, set up by Hugo Petit and Foucher.

The Comet potent attack struck again with under three minutes left in the frame, as Ryan Peck made it 3-2 Comets with his third goal of the season. Assists came from defensemen Jeremy Picard Fiset and Maxime Belley.

In the second period, the Comets kept pressing and around seven and a half minutes in, Alek Deblois made it 4-2 with his second of the year assisted by Peck.

Around two minutes later, Beblois followed up with his second of the game making it 5-2, with help from Justin Charbonneau and Justin Lafleur.

At around the mid-way point of the period, the Diables clawed themselves back in the game with two goals of their own.

However, with just under three minutes remaining in the frame, Peck doubled the Comets’ lead before Warren made it 7-4 with his 12th snipe of the season.

Coming into the third period, the Comets wanted to play solid, shut-down hockey for the final 20 minutes and did just that – preventing the Diables from producing much anything offensively.

Just over 13 minutes into the frame, Comets’ captain Darcy Findlay put the nail in the coffin with his sixth tally of the season, assisted by Charbonneau and Lafleur.

With three points on the night (two goals, one assist), Peck received first star honours and Deblois took home the second star with a two-goal performance of his own.

After the game, Comets’ head coach Jean-Francois Lavergne said he was glad with his team’s performance, praising his player’s resiliency after going down a couple of goals in the early part of the game.

“We didn’t start things off very well,” he said. “We were a little bit unlucky early. But things changed quickly. We showed character even if we were down 2-0, we came back.”

Playing against a very hard-working Mont-Tremblant side in their own building, Lavergne was thrilled with his team’s willingness to focus on its game plan and eventually come out with the win.

“Road games are ever easy,” he said. “We don’t have the last change, so we can’t really adjust to our opponent. So, we decided to play our way and I’m very satisfied with the result. I think the final score doesn’t necessarily reflect the game. It was a lot tighter than some people might think.”

Having won eight straight games, Lavergne pointed to consistent performances from his core of veterans leaders as well as his supporting cast as key factors in the team’s unprecedented run of success.

“No one panics on this team,” he said. “The guys know how they need to play to win and they’re conscious that there are other good teams in the league. There are never easy games.”

“Guys like Darcy [Findlay], Matt Warren, Dave Foucher who don’t hesitate to speak up when things aren’t going well who set the example for other guys,” he said. “Others who are more obscure like Olivier Donovan, Ryan Peck, Ben Harris who are furious grinders, it rubs off on the rest of the team.”

Going forward, Lavergne said his team knows they won’t be surprising anyone in the OSAAHL because they’re likely the team to beat. But with a locker room boasting loads of confidence and leadership, he expects not from his players besides sticking to what’s been working.

“We know our players and we know what they’re capable of,” he said. “We’re respecting our team identity. No matter how our opponent plays us, we have our way of playing by using speed and fast transition play. They have to adjust to playing us.”

For Lavergne, it’s all about taking things one game at a time.

“We’re not looking at the standings or the streak,” he said.

For their next tilt, the Comets will host the second-place Maniwaki Forestiers (6-6-0) at the Fort Coulonge Arena on Dec. 21.

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