The Vankleek Hill Cougars came back from their holiday break and kicked off 2024 with one loss and one win against the Gatineau Hull-Volant and the Cumberland Castors, respectively. 

The Cougars faced the toughest team in the league on Friday night, Jan. 5, resulting in their 3-1 defeat to the Gatineau Hull-Volant. Gatineau has only two losses in 26 games. Joshua Desjardins scored the first goal of the game for the Cougars in the second period, but Gatineau scored three back-to-back goals in the third period, two from Julien Arruda and one from Samuel Emery, to put the game out of the Cougar’s reach.  

Vankleek Hill hosted the Cumberland Castors at home the following Saturday, shutting-out the opposition in a 3-0 win with goals from Maxime Laliberté, Connor Stuart and Bruno Laframboise.