Now at 7-4-0, the Pontiac Senior Comets have moved into first place in the Outaouais Senior AA Hockey League (OSAAHL) standings while pushing their . . .

winning streak to six games, after back to back wins at home against the Mont-Tremblant Diables last weekend.

On Saturday night, the Comets were quite confident heading into the game as one of the hottest teams in the league.

With a chance to tie the Maniwaki Forestiers for first place in the Outaouais Senior AA Hockey league (OSAAHL) standings, they were dead set to come out strong putting forth a full 60-minute performance.

The first 20 minutes saw both teams trade chances in a competitive, fast-paced affair.

With just over three minutes left in the frame, the Comets struck first, with Hugo Petit’s third goal of the season on a dazzling solo effort assisted by Jérémy Picard Fiset.

Over a minute later, Stephen Blunden gave the Comets a 2-0 lead with his fourth goal of the year, with help from Maxime Belley and Mitchell Gibson.

The Comets seemed poised to take over the game, after finishing the period in dominant fashion. But just over a minute into the second period, the Diables cut the Comets’ lead to one.

Around a minute and a half later the Comets restored their two-goal lead, after Blunden delivered a drop pass to Guillaume Gregoire who went low glove-side on a wrister from the top of the left circle.

Mont-Tremblant made it 3-2, a few minutes later.

But, 13 minutes into the frame, Petit scored his second of the night on a top-shelf back hand over the goalie’s left shoulder.

Matthew Warren followed up, a few minutes later, with his ninth goal of the campaign, on a two-on-one snap-shot fed by Stephane Paré.

During the closing stages of the period, the Comets head into the break with a three-goal lead, until the Diables scored with under a minute remaining to cut the deficit to two.

The ice was tilted in the Diables’ favour for the majority of the third period, as they kept the Comets on their heels before capitalizing just before the half-way mark to make it a one-goal game.

With just over four minutes left, the Diables tied it up in dramatic fashion, setting the stage for an epic finale.

All knotted up at five after 60 minutes, it was time for some three-on-three overtime action.

After taking a high sticking penalty just 16 seconds into the extra frame, the Comets faced a bombardment of shots early, including one that found its way past goaltender Danick Boisvert only to hit the iron.

Shortly after killing the penalty, defenseman Matt Sarazin delivered a two-line stretch pass to Justin Charbonneau who walked into the right circle, before firing the puck between the goalie’s wickets to call it a game.

After the win, Charbonneau said he was delighted to have helped his team extend its win streak and satisfied with his team’s work ethic and cohesiveness in the last handful of games.

“For sure, it’s fun to have another win in a row,” he said. “The guys are working hard and when everyone is working, it’s fun.”

“I think we have great chemistry in the dressing room and the guys are having fun,” he added. “That’s what’s important. When you’re having fun, you’re playing well.”

Despite their recent success, he stressed that the team still needs some tweaking on the defensive side of the puck, to continue their rise up the OSAAHL standings.

“We need to tighten up defensively,” he said. “Sometimes we focus too much on offense when the game opens up. But we have to start from the back and then the goals will come.”

On Sunday, the Comets were hungry to defeat the same team twice in as many days. Coming off an emotional win the night before, the boys from Coulonge were hoping to use that same energy to start strong and play an inspired 60 minutes of hockey.

In the first period, both teams put on an offensive clinic, exchanging nine goals, with six scored by the Comets.

Goal scorers included captain Darcy Findlay, David Foucher, Mitchell Gibson and Charbonneau who picked up a hat trick – making him the OSAAHL’s leader in goals with 11 in just eight games.

In the second period, Foucher gave the Comets a four-goal lead on his second goal of the game, assisted by Gregoire and Belley.

But at around the midway point of the period, Mont-Tremblant scored two goals in quick succession to make it a 7-5 score line after 40 minutes.

In the third period, the Comets knew that all they had to do was shut down the Diables offense to come out with their sixth consecutive win.

However, just over a minute into the third period, Mont-Tremblant reduced the deficit to one with a powerplay marker.

With under three minutes left, Petit put the nail in the coffin with his fifth goal of the campaign, assisted by Charbonneau and Benoit Nadon, giving the Comets an 8-6 victory.

After the game, Lavergne said he was thrilled with how his team started the game with so much on the line, praising his player’s killer instinct offensively.

“For sure, we were satisfied with how we came out early in the game,” he said. “I think the guys had knives between their teeth, really wanting to perform, especially knowing that first place in the league was in play.”

Somewhat disappointed with his team’s level of discipline, serving 25 penalty minutes in the game, he was happy with the character his team showed by shutting things down in the third period.

“I’m not satisfied with the second period,” he said. “I think we played with fire by taking a lot of penalties.”

“We came in the room between the second and third periods and talked with the guys to ensure our focus was in the right place to win the game and that’s what we did,” he added. “I’d prefer it for us to perform for 60 minutes. The second period was a bit of a rough draft, but for the rest of the game I was satisfied.”

After winning in dramatic fashion the night before, Lavergne emphasized the importance of maintaining a high-level of work ethic for the entire game and to not underestimate a team that, despite its record, never makes things easy for anyone they play against.

“You have to give it to Tremblant,” he said. “They’re a team that’s really improved since the start of the season. They’re no easy prey.”

Moving forward, Lavergne said that his team won’t stray away from their mindset of focusing on themselves rather than their adversary.

On our side, we’re not changing the formula,” he said.

Having won six straight games, he said he expects opposing teams to take his squad very seriously, especially the Maniwaki Forestiers team that they’ve already beaten three times this season.

“We’ve won a few games this year, benefitting from them thinking that we wouldn’t compete,” he said. “But now they’re waiting for us. Maniwaki has a much better team than we think and it’s certain that we won’t surprise them on Saturday. They’ll be ready, so it will be up to us to ensure that we match their intensity.”

For their next game, the Comets will travel to Maniwaki to meet the Forestiers in a battle for first place in the OSAAHL on Dec. 7.

Last weekend, the Pontiac Senior Comets extended their winning streak to six games, while moving into first place of the Outaouais Senior AA Hockey League standings. Pictured, Matt Sarazin embraces Justin Charbonneau after connecting on a stretch-pass for the game winning goal in overtime on Saturday.

Stéphane Paré carries the puck into the offensive zone during the second period on Saturday night.

Comets’ defenseman David Foucher battles for a puck against a Diables forechecker behind his net.

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