In their final matchup of the regular season on Saturday night, it was a night of firsts for the Burlington Cougars battling the Spirit in Stouffville. Cougars defenceman Richard Coulson had a career night as the Burlington native netted his first career OJHL goal in his second season (played just 5 games in 2017-18) and added two assists for a 3-point night.

Not to be outdone, 16-year old AP Braeden Kressler scored twice for the Cougars in just his 3rd OJHL game to propel the team to an 8-3 victory to close out the regular season.

Coming off a 2-0 defeat at home on Friday versus the Oakville Blades, the Cougars offence found its stride on Saturday as late 1st period goals from Jeffrey Burridge and Kressler gave Burlington a 2-1 lead heading to the locker room.

The Cougars didn’t let up to open the second stanza as Michael Boushy tucked one home to extend the lead to 3-1. Max Lightfoot and Kressler then scored with less than a minute left in the frame to give Burlington a 5-1 stronghold heading into the final 20 minutes of the season.

Stouffville continued to battle in the 3rd period, ultimately their final period of the season as they will finish out of the playoffs for the 5th time in 7 seasons since their Buckland Cup Championship in 2011-12.

Matthew Steen - in his final regular season game - gave the Cougars a five goal lead with his 9th goal of the season early in the 3rd period. The Spirit struck back with two goals of their own, with Joe Kennedy and Connor May cutting the deficit to 6-3.


That’s as close as they would get though, as Andrew Salt and Coulson found the back of the net midway through the frame to restore the five goal lead en route to the 8-3 victory.

Lightfoot joined Coulson with 3 points on the night while Michael Greco, also closing out his junior career added 2 assists. Evan Benwell, Mitchell Morrison and Steen all finished with 2 points in the win.

Matthew Dunsmoor looked solid in his return to the Cougars’ crease, turning aside 20 of 23 shots for his 16th victory of the season. Dunsmoor finishes his rookie campaign with a 16-12-2-1 record and a solid 2.89 GAA and .916 save percentage.

After finishing the regular season with a 27-22-3-2 record the Cougars will travel to Buffalo this week to begin their first round matchup south of the border with the Jr. Sabres. Stay tuned to www.burlingtoncougars.ca and on social media for scheduling details.

- Written by Pat Shields