Redemption!

Article by I. Schoonderbeek/Media by R. Mansfeld

The Clarington Eagles entered Thursday night’s game with something to prove.

Just a week earlier, the Junior ‘C’ club was embarrassed 6-2 on the road by the Schomberg Cougars. Coach Dean Baumhauer described his team’s effort that night as the worst performance he’s seen from his club in four years.

As luck would have it, the Eagles didn’t have to wait long for their first chance at redemption. The Cougars arrived at Rickard Arena in Bowmanville Thursday night and were met with a completely different effort. The Eagles badly outworked and outshot the cats to send the fans away happy after a 5-2 win.

Rookie Owen White opened the scoring early in the first period with his fourth goal of the season from Kyle Shepherd and Trevor Urquhart.

Despite spending much of the first period on the attack in the offensive zone, the Eagles were not able to expand on their lead until early in the second. With Clarington on the powerplay, Kyle Smith tipped a point shot from Will Gourgouvelis for his ninth of the campaign to make it 2-0.

But the Cougars were not going to go away quietly. The Eagles opened the door for a Schomberg comeback, taking three minor penalties in a three-minute span midway through the second. The Cougars capitalized twice with the man-advantage to even the score at 2-2.

Despite clearly outplaying their opponents, the Eagles found themselves back to square one with half the game to play. “We had about a six-minute relapse to last week really,” said Baumhauer. “A few bad decisions in quick succession and you can lose momentum in a hurry.”

But it’s how you respond to adversity that matters. A minute after the Cougars had clawed their way back into the game and with the Eagles still shorthanded, Nate Burelle sprung Brayden Hicks on a breakaway. Hicks snapped a perfect shot over the goaltender’s glove to put the Eagles up 3-2. “Nate has great vision out there. I love playing with him,” said Hicks. “It was important to respond quickly after they tied it back up.”

Clarington would hold the narrow lead going into the third period.

Defenseman Charlie Vanhaverbeke expanded the Eagles cushion early in the final frame. Vanhaverbeke entered the Schomberg zone with speed and intentionally fired a low shot wide of the goal. The crafty skater then buried the rebound off the end boards past the surprised goaltender.

Asked about the play after the game, Charlie immediately broke into a laugh. “Ask any of my previous coaches, I probably try that play 60 times a year. That’s the first time it’s worked! But the coaches love it. It makes me look like I’m a high IQ player when I’m really not.” (We respectfully disagree with Vanhaverbeke’s self-assessment of his own hockey IQ 😉)

Later in the third, Gourgouvelis finished off a pretty passing play from Hicks and Burelle on a rare four-on-three powerplay opportunity to cap off the Eagles’ scoring.

Things got a little testy with two-minutes to go in the game when a Cougars player threw a check after the whistle on an offside call. Brock Mathieson answered the bell for the Eagles in a spirited tussle which seemed to diffuse the animosity for the rest of the game. “Probably not the best idea to fight at the end of a shift. I was a little tired,” said Mathieson with a chuckle.

Mathieson will now miss the next game due to the fight occurring in the last 10-minutes of the game. But Baumhauer was not concerned with the suspension. “Good on him to stand up for a teammate and have a little duster. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Clarington remains at the top of the Orr Division standings, six points ahead of second place Port Perry.

The team hits the road this Sunday to take on the Caledon Golden Hawks at 2:30. They’ll be back at Rickard Arena Thursday night when the Little Britain Merchants come to town. Make sure you wear your Halloween costumes!