The Carman Collegiate Cougars made the most of home ice earlier this month, rolling to three straight wins to claim their annual hockey tournament held Nov. 14-15.
The Cougars opened the weekend with a decisive 5-1 victory over the Warren Wildcats on Nov. 14, setting the tone in the A-pool round robin. Carman followed that performance with a 4-2 win over the Mountain Mustangs later that day, securing a berth in the championship game.
Carman met the GVC Zodiacs—who advanced from the B pool—in a closely contested final on Nov. 15, edging out a 2-1 overtime win.
Ryder Delaquis put Carman up 1-0 midway through the first period, finishing off a play set up by Campbell Park and Elliot Van Den Bussche at 9:33. The Zodiacs tied the game less than seven minutes later when Caleb Pauls scored unassisted at 3:24.
Neither team could break the deadlock through the second and third periods, sending the final to sudden-death overtime. The Cougars capitalized early when Delaquis buried the game-winner on a power play just 58 seconds in, assisted by Nathan Froebe.
The goal sealed both the championship and a standout tournament for Delaquis, who scored twice in the final and six goals overall.
The weekend event featured six teams: Carman, Warren and Mountain in the A pool, and NPC, GVC and PCI in the B pool.
For the Cougars, the title capped a strong two-day effort at both ends of the ice, highlighted by timely scoring and a tight defensive game that held opponents to just four goals across three outings.
