Men’s hockey team can score goals

author: konstantin kharitonov | sports editor

 it was a good weekend for goalies / Arthur ward

Cougars win first weekend series since November 2016

Honestly, even with the two losses this week against the U of S Huskies, the shock of the Cougars pulling off back-to-back wins is still not waning. For the first time in what seems like forever, the Cougars not only pulled off two victories, but have also scored more than two goals in a game, with a whopping six goals in the second of the back-to-back games.  

The season has not been kind to the men’s team, to put it nicely. Coming into the Max Bell Centre on the University of Manitoba Bisons campus, pulling out a win was definitely not expected. However, in their first game against the Bisons, they were able to score a huge two goals in the second period and a 36-save performance from Dawson MacAuley. The Cougars would go on two win their first game by a score of 3-1. Zach PcHee, Corey Kosloski, and Arthur Miller were the goal scorers for the visitors. 

The second game is where things get interesting. After going down 2-0 because of a rough first period, the Cougars decided to take over the game, answering right back with two goals of their own, only four minutes apart. Then in the third, Zak Zborosky of the Cougars became a man possessed, scoring a natural hat trick all within five minutes of game time. The Bisons scored one back, but Cougar Corwin Stevely scored one back for good measure to secure the 6-3 victory for the Cougars. 

This was the first time that the Cougars won a weekend set since November 2016. Yes, they didn’t win a single weekend last season. While it’s still not a sign that the team is officially good now, it is encouraging that the team figured out how to score. Even if the team can’t keep winning, at least that they can continue scoring. 

Which brings us to this week, because even though the Cougars dropped both games against the Huskies, with them even being down 4-0 after two periods in the first game, the Cougars were able to score, bringing the game within two points. Yes, they lost 4-2, but the scoring might finally not be a huge issue to the team. Granted, the team then also only scored one goal in the next game against the Huskies, but this is still a team trying to figure things out.  

Is the rest of the season going to go well? No, definitely not. However, if they can start scoring more often, then there might be some semblance of improvement for the program, and the Cougars might actually get back to the playoffs eventually.