The Vankleek Hill Cougars are sure to be the NCJHL season champions with a just games left to play on their schedule.
The Cougars hammered the North Dundas Rockets 8-3 in Chesterville last Friday night and then chewed up the Cumberland Castors 6-3 on home ice Saturday night at the Vankleek Hill Arena.
Cougars General Manager Franky Dopelhamer credited the team’s almost-perfect season game record to a combination of having a good core group of veterans from past seasons on the lineup for this season and acquisition of a couple of key players early at the start.
“We were fortunate we had these two guys,” said Dopelhamer, during a phone interview Sunday.
He referred to Bradley Horner and Liam Lynn. Horner is a former OHL player with lots of hard experience on the ice, while Lynn has proven “the number one leading scorere” for the Cougars according to Dopelhamer. He also singled out local boy Mike Fournier, who moved onto the Cougars bench after time spent with the Glengarry Brigade.
But Dopelhamer noted that the return of many experienced Cougars from past seasons has provided the team with a strong foundation for both offence and defence at the start of the 2025-2026 season in the National Capital Junior Hockey League.
“We always knews we had a good team,” he said, “and excellent coaching staff. We have a good reputation and people want to play for us. We’re strong in everything.”
Cougars ground Rockets
The North Dundas Rockets got their three points during last Friday’s match with the Cougars during the first period of the game. The Cougars never let them near the net again.
The Rockets got on the scoreboard first five minutes in the game with a goal from Owen Shields, assisted by Luke Griffin and Preston Lefebvre. Garrett Mason scored the second point for North Dundas at the midmark, with help from Lefebvre and Kaden St. Denis.
Bruno Laframboise answered back for the Cougars in the final five minutes of the period, with an assist from Zachary Sullivan.
The Rockets got their last point in the last 30 seconds of the period, courtesy of Max Messervey, from Lefebvre and Dawson Coleman.
The Cougars took charge of the scoring in second period, starting with a power-play push in the first two minutes by Jacob Crete, with help from Cody Horner. A minute later Horner added his own power-play goal to the scoring total, with assists from Liam Lynn and Nolan Macmillan. A third power-play point went into the Rockets’ net a minute later through a solo effort by Zachary Sullivan.
At the period midmark Alexandre Chenier fired in another Cougars goal, with assists from Sullivan and Mike Fournier. With six second left in the period, Fournier punched in a goal, assisted by Sullivan.
Third period saw Fournier score again, with help from Sullivan and Laframboise. The final goal for the Cougars came off the stick of Cody Horner, with assistance from Macmillan.
Cougars and Castors
Liam Lynn started the scoring, giving the Cougars their first goal against the Castors close to the first period midmark of Saturday night’s game. Alexandre Chenier assisted.
Ryan Wolowicz followed a couple minutes later with Vankleek Hill’s second point, assisted by Alexandre Mayer and Ryder Hill. A short-handed goal at the midmark went into the Cumberland net from Liam Lynn, assisted by Xavier Plante and Bradley Horner
The Castors got on the scoreboard in the second half of the period on a power-play effort by Charles Gauthier, with help from Ryan Pomerleau.
Early in second period Garrett Cunning fired in a point, with assists from Cody Horner and Avery MacCuaig. At the midmark, Macmillan scored, with help from Lynn and Zack Langlois. Charles Gauthier answered back later for the Castors, with help from Tyler Levesque.
Lynn got a point in the final five minutes of the period, assisted by Plante and Crete.
The last goal of the night was for the Castors, on a power play in third period by Cohen George, from Tyler Lahaie-Desabrais.
With a couple games left until the end of the regular season, General Manager Dopelhamer noted that the playoffs will be a new game for everyone.
“All teams can beat anybody,” he said, noting the Cougars cannot be complacent about their chances. “We are going to want to push it up a notch. We want to play our style of hockey.”
Next games in the NCJHL schedule for the Cougars are at home against the South Grenville Rangers February 3 and the Westport Rideaus February 7.
