Smith’s natural hat trick paces Cobourg Cougars to overtime victory over Toronto Warriors
By sports correspondent Alan RIvett
For Cayden Smith, a dominant offensive force in a thrilling 3-2 OT victory over the visiting Toronto Warriors on Nov. 9, there was a little extra motivation in seeing the Warriors vanquished to the overtime loss column.
You see, the Toronto Warriors were once the Cobourg Cougars before they left town this past summer taking lock, stock and jock straps down Hwy. 401 to Scotiabank Pond in Toronto.
The Cougars’ cause was then taken up by current co-owners Paul Wilson and Ryan Ramsay, who elected to move their former team – the Haliburton County Huskies – to Cobourg to fill the junior hockey void.
And Smith explained it was all about winning one for his newly-adopted hockey home Cobourg and hanging a loss on the former franchise in Ontario Junior Hockey League action at the Cobourg Community Centre.
“I mean, yeah, those guys, obviously, you know, the history of them here, so we wanted to take the win for the town,” said the 19-year-old forward. “We had so many (scoring) chances, we outshot them like 50 to 10 (actual shots on goal were 48-18 in favour of the Cougars), so we just got more goals in the end, but, yeah, it was a good learning curve.”
And those “more goals” came off the stick of Smith who provided a natural hat trick, including the game winner on the power play 39 seconds into the five-minute extra frame. After accepting a pass from linemate Brant Romaniuk, Smith sidestepped a Toronto defender and delivered a quick wrist shot behind Toronto goaltender Bogdan Bogomolov who was otherwise stellar for the Warriors.
Despite outshooting and outplaying the Warriors by a wide margin in the contest, the Cougars actually trailed the Warriors 2-1 well into the second period. Smith’s power play marker with 5:32 left in the second knotted the game at 2-2.
Neither team was able to score in the third to set up the five-minute extra frame.
Coach Smith said a five-minute misconduct and subsequent game misconduct assessed to Cougars’ forward Isaac Tracze in the second period was a pivotal moment in the contest. The Cougars killed the five-minute penalty successfully, which shifted the momentum in favour of Cobourg.
“That five-minute PK in the second period was probably the turning point where we did a pretty good job of keeping them outside, and they didn’t really get many chances (from then on),” explained Coach Smith. “It was a little closer than my liking, but it is what it is.
“The guys stuck with it, and that’s probably the biggest thing. The last two nights we’ve been able to stick with it and not stray from the game plan and just rely on, you know, each other to get the job done.”
Overtime hero Smith, who has shifted to centre of late, said he’s been shooting a little more than he normally does, and that philosophy definitely paid off against the Torontonians.
“I shot the puck a bit more because I’ve been needing to do that a bit. Obviously, it worked out, so I’m just gonna keep doing it, I guess,” said Smith, who is currently tied with Briir Long as Cougars’ points leaders, each with 31 points.
It was the second victory over the Warriors in as many nights for the Cougars, as they defeated Toronto 4-2 at Scotiabank Pond on Sunday, Nov. 8. The back-to-back wins also extended the Cougars’ consecutive win streak to nine games.
Cobourg currently sits second in the OJHL’s East Conference with a mark of 16 wins, three losses, two OT wins, one OT loss and a shoot-out win for 33 points, three back of front running Markham Royals.
Coach Smith gave full credit to younger Smith who’s been a major contributor to the team’s success so far this season.
“You know what, he’s obviously been amazing for us this year. We’ve had him on the wing a lot this season, playing with Long, and with Romaniuk lately, but with Long out (for Monday’s game) he went back to centre today, and, you know, he’s turned into quite the workhorse for us.
“He plays a lot; he was on the PK (penalty kill) today. He’s one of the best face-off men I’ve ever seen in this league. I think he’s around 90 per cent, which is unbelievable.
And, obviously tonight, you know, he led us with three goals, which was huge.”
The 19-year-old said he’s in a perfect situation as a member of the Cougars and he’s eager to see what the remainder of the season holds for him and his teammates.
“Personnel wise, we’ve got a really good team. I love everyone in that room, so it’s gonna be good.
“I’m excited to see what we have coming,” he said. “I think we can win it, win it all, honestly. The East (Conference) is wide open this year, so I think we can definitely do something.”
Coach Smith is also encouraged by his team’s strong play of late. But he cautioned, the Cougars are only a third of the way into the season with a lot more hockey left to come.
“Obviously, the wins are huge, and we’re getting points in the standings and trying to get some separation from teams a little bit below us. But at this point in the year, it’s just about continuing to get better, and it’s not where we are now, it’s where we are in February and March, and hopefully (in playoff time) in April or May. So, we’ve got room to grow.”
Assisting on Smith’s goals were Jonny Brooks with two, Keegan Shirley, Graydon Jones and Romaniuk all with one.
In the first game of the home-and-home series with the Toronto Warriors on Nov. 8, the Cougars fell behind 2-0 in the first period but responded with four straight goals in the second and third frames to secure the 4-2 victory. Chase Del Colombo, Smith, Liam Oravsky and Romaniuk scored for the Cougars. Adding assists were Long with three, Romaniuk, Joseph Cadorin, Nole Faulkner and Del Colombo each with one.
The Cougars played on the road in Lindsay against the Huskies on Friday, Nov. 13 after our press deadline. The Cougars are also on the road for a game against the Trenton Golden Hawks on Sunday, Nov. 15.
The next home action for the Cougars is against Toronto’s St. Michael’s Buzzers at the CCC on Monday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.
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