The 2nd place Cougars took on the 7th place Oceanside Generals last night in the first round of the playoffs. The teams exchanged chances through the first 5 minutes until Generals Aleko Karamanis got his arm up on a hit to Matt Clark and took a roughing penalty. At 5:21 on the PP it was none other than Booker Chacalias who put the puck in the net high blocker side. He used the big body of Mateo Albinati as a perfect screen and Oceanside netminder James Brendeland had no chance as he didn’t see anything but Albinati. Assisting on the play was Cameron LeSergent and Matt Clark.
The Cougars won the faceoff at center and Kevan McBean took the puck down the left wing and let a shot rip from 5 feet inside the blueline and Cougars Grady Birk in front got his stick on the shot and deflected it past Brendeland for a quick 2-0 Cougars lead. Assists went to McBean and Matt Berryman. The two goals were just 11 seconds apart. The Cougars continued their dominance in play for the rest of the period outshooting the Gens 14-5.
The 2nd period saw fairly even playback and forth with Chacalias potting his second of the game at 14:50 on a goalmouth scramble where he took a pass from Matt Clark and got a shot away close in which Brendeland stopped but Booker grabbed the rebound and put a tight-angled shot in for a 3-0 lead for the home team. Clark had the only assist on the play. The Generals got one of their own 1:43 later when Greyson Weme in front of the Cougars net got his stick on a point shot by Trey Boylan and second assist went to Brady Kay. The period finished with the Cougars outshooting the visitors 9-7.
In the third, the Cougars controlled most of the period and outshot the Generals 15-7. There was no more scoring in the game and tempers flared a little late in the game.
Game stars were Greyson Weme for the visitors and Booker Chacalias for the Cougars.