After weeks of practice and intersquad scrimmages, the Canora Cobras were ready to face an opponent on Friday night. The team traveled to Porcupine Plain and came away with a 5-4 shootout victory over the defending Provincial D champions and Pasquia Hockey League champions.
Zack Woloshyn and Bryan Heshka gave the Cobras a 2-0 lead in the first period before the Blues cut the lead in half. Sean Kolodziejski gave the Cobras their 2 goal lead back in the second, but the Blues came back to tie the game. In the third, the Blues took their first lead of the game with an early goal, but Todd MacMurchy tied the game with 9 minutes to go and sent the teams to overtime.
In the shootout period, MacMurchy was the only Cobra to score in the first round of 5 shooters. But Cobra goaltender, Jeremy Hrebenik stood tall and only allowed one himself. In the first round of sudden death shootout, Kolodziejski scored and Hrebenik then stopped the Blues shooter to give the Cobras the victory.
While goals may have been hard to come by on Friday night, it took only 42 seconds for the Cobras to take a 2-0 lead on goals by Matt Lamb and Todd MacMurchy. Ryan Kitchen, Daniel Lamb, Zack Woloshyn, and Darryl Dickson would give the Cobras a 6-0 lead before the Blues would break the shutout. Daniel Lamb would restore the 6 goal lead with a late first period goal.
The teams were scoreless in the middle frame, but MacMurchy would get an early third period goal to give the Cobras an 8-1 lead. The Blues would respond with two goals, but Zack Woloshyn would close out the scoring with just 2.9 seconds remaining in the game. The Cobras would win 9-3 and complete the sweep of the preseason exhibition series with the Blues.
One day after notching the shootout winner, rookie Sean Kolodziejski continued to impress with a third period scrap. It took only three punches to claim the knockout victory.
Jeremy Hrebenik picked up the win in goal with a 35 save performance.
The Cobras played the weekend series with about 12 skaters, while a couple of other players were injured and had other commitments. The club is continuing its recruiting mission in order to reach the goal of icing a squad of around 18 players. While word awaits on a couple of opportunities presented to a couple of prospects, the Cobras are feeling very confident and excited about the new season. In season’s past, the Cobras have run into roster problems around playoff time. However, the goal of the Cobra recruiters is to stockpile the roster with players who will contribute all season long. With only 5 teams remaining in the Fishing Lake Hockey and with all teams facing the same challenges of fielding enough players, this season’s league championship is anyone’s for the taking and the Cobras will be favored to be near the top.
The Cobras will now take a small break before the FLHL season begins on November 16th. The Cobras will host the Kelvington Wheat Kings on Friday the 16th at 8:30, while the Foam Lake Flyers will visit on Saturday November 17th, at 8:00.
