‘All the players here are excited’: Cobourg Cougars edge out Lindsay Muskies 6-5 at home opener

Newly minted captain Isaac Larmand honoured to take on leadership role

Several Cobourg dignitaries, including Mayor Lucas Cleveland, Deputy Mayor Nicole Beatty, and fire Chief Ellard Beaven, joined Cougars’ part-owner/general manager Ryan Ramsay for the ceremonial puck drop at the team’s home opener at the Cobourg Community Centre on Sept. 14. Team captains Isaac Larmand (Cobourg) and Jack Foley (Lindsay) prepared for the puck drop. /Alan Rivett photos

By sports correspondent Alan Rivett

Newly minted captain Isaac Larmand couldn’t hide his excitement in his comments after his Cobourg Cougars came out on the right end of the score at the club’s home opener at the Cobourg Community Centre on Monday, Sept. 14.

Larmand, who, at age 20, is in his final season of eligibility to play in the Ontario Junior Hockey League, noted the win wasn’t pretty with plenty of room to improve as a team, but they’ll take the victory and move on.

“I think all the players here are excited,” said the Midland resident on competing for the first time this season in front of good CCC crowd that was announced at 460 paying customers. “It’s nice to get the first one at home, but there’s lots of stuff we still gotta work on.

“But, yeah, I think overall, we’re just really excited to be here, and we appreciate the support from the community.”

The captaincy, said Larmand, is a responsibility that he’s both excited and honoured to receive.

“It’s obviously an honour, especially with the community behind us,” said the six-foot, 225-pound left winger who played three previous seasons with the Haliburton County Huskies who moved to Cobourg this off-season. “It’s a pretty cool feeling and I take pride in it.”

Lindsay Muskies’ Carter Hildebrandt (12) lets the puck fly on Cobourg Cougars’ goaltender Carter Nadon (1) who made the stop during the Cougars’ home opener on Sept. 14.

And as the captain, Larmand was a key contributor toward the victory in the home opener, scoring the game-winning goal on a third-period tip-in and adding an assist in the Cougars’ 6-5 win over the visiting Lindsay Muskies.

The home-opener victory represented the second consecutive win for the Cougars’ organization that started a new era under the leadership of part-owner and GM Ryan Ramsay and new head coach Derek Smith after Ramsay and co-owner, father-in-law Paul Wilson, moved the Haliburton County Huskies team to Cobourg to fill the void left behind as previous ownership moved the franchise to Toronto in the off-season.

The Cougars started the season on the road to Aurora against the Tigers on Friday, Sept. 11, emerging with a 5-2 win at the Aurora Community Centre.

Despite back-to-back wins, the Cougars currently sit in fourth place (tied with Lindsay) in the league’s East Conference. The Markham Royals lead the way in the early going of the regular season with a perfect 5-0-0-0 mark thus far.

Cobourg Cougars’ Jonny Brooks (18) shot the puck out of the Cobourg zone as teammate Luis Sturgeon (20) and Lindsay Muskies’ Quinn Mason (25) followed the play during the Cougars’ home opener.

For his part, coach Smith said he was happy to get the home-opening win but noted there are plenty of aspects of the game to clean up as the season moves along.

“We were moving the puck well, and we had some really good extended o-zone shifts. But obviously, there are areas on the defensive side of puck that we’ve got to clean up. But it’s early,” observed Smith, of his team’s performance.

“We haven’t had a lot of practice time and there’s a lot to work on, but a lot to build off of, too. There’s some things we’re very happy with and there’s some learning experience that we can take from tonight’s game, but the guys buckled down late in the game, and we found a way to win a hockey game,” he added.

Smith pointed to forwards Garrett Jones, Julien Davis and Carter Petrie who were especially effective for the Cougars against Lindsay. For Jones, he scored his first-ever goal at the junior level.

“Guys like (Garrett) Jones getting his first and (Julien) Davis had a lot of really positive shifts,” noted Smith. “I thought (Carter) Petrie was really good on the penalty kill and played with a lot of grit tonight. You know, there were a lot of guys who had good games.”

As for bestowing the captain’s “C” on Larmand’s jersey, it was an easy decision for a number of reasons, explained Smith.

“He’s had a really good start to his junior career in Haliburton, and there’s a lot of trust (in Larmand) from Ryan Ramsay, our GM. But the biggest thing with Larmie is he’s just a really good human and he’s a good role model for not just the guys on our team, but for the community.

“And, you know, he does things the right way on the ice, but off the ice, he’s just, like, a really good person,” said Smith, of his captain.

Cobourg Cougars’ Nole Faulkner (27) and Lindsay Muskies’ Trace Whitlock (19) attempted to track down a loose puck during the Cougars’ home opener at the CCC on Sept. 14. The Cougars prevailed 6-5.

Ramsay noted he was pleased with the fan support at the home opener.

“Yeah, I think it was great,” said Ramsay. “Obviously, a lot of new faces for me, but people looked pretty excited to be back.

“We have a really good product on-and-off the ice, which is important to the town, but, you know, it’s probably more important to us as a coaching staff and ownership group. It was a great number (of fans at the game) and we can’t thank the fans enough.”

Also scoring for the Cougars against Lindsay were Keegan Shirley, Petrie, Briir Long, and Chase Del Colombo. Also adding assists were Jonny Brooks, Davis, Daniel Tout (2), Jesse Bruce, Luis Sturgeon, Del Colombo, and Cayden Smith (2).

In the season opener against Aurora, Brooks, Smith, Liam Oravsky, Bruce and Long scored for the Cougars. Assisting were Long (2), Davis (2), Alexis Boily, Oravsky, Smith (2), Jones and Larmand.

The Cougars see next action against the Newmarket Hurricanes at the CCC on Monday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m.