After a calming public skate in Chester with smiling faces and laughter in the stands things started to get ugly quickly as the battle of the two big teams hit the ice. In the first period the Hurricane power play only needed its second opportunity before the opening goal of the game would come from Josh Shatford (Mann, Messenger).  

Strangely in practice earlier in the week it seemed the penalty kill would be the better specialty team of the two but early in the second once again the Hurricane power play would strike this time Alex Nauss (Mann, Jollimore).  

A physical game found the Cougars on the power play where they were able to notch a power play goal of their own. Just to keep the road weary Cape Breton fans into it the Cougars sent home their second to head to the intermission tied at two.

The goals scored by the Cougars were opportunistic but they all count and we just didn’t have the battle level we had come to expect; it was good but just not good enough. A commitment to raise the work ethic was the clear message and the Hurricane responded.

When Morgan Messenger (Benight, Cooke) fired one pass the Cougar keeper just under two minutes in, the traditional third period effort the Hurricane team has shown had returned.

After a couple of missed power play efforts by the Hurricane the Cougars had thought they had escaped unscathed but Josh Shatford ( Benight, M Messenger) managed to do what the power play couldn’t and the Hurricanes found themselves up by two and controlling the play.

However, penalty trouble is the great equalizer in hockey and the Hurricane penalty kill would get a stiff test and need to dig in. With over four minutes of penalty kill ticking off clock the Cougars had nothing to show for it and to erase any doubt Keegan Cooke (Nauss) registered the third unanswered goal of the period with minutes left in the game.

The entertainment value was high in this game as all aspects were featured... the speed and puck movement were good and specialty teams executed on both sides along with some nice goaltending by Peterson in nets.

The Hurricane third period effort was the Cougars undoing and you can make the final Hurricane 5 – Cougars 2.