Carlyle Cougars 2017-18 Season Preview

The young team from Carlyle enters this season in the Big 6 hockey league with a crucial year of experience under their belt. After a fourth place finish in the West Division last season the Cougars were able to make some noise in the playoffs and took the Redvers Rockets to overtime in game four of the league quarterfinal, before losing on a goal off the blade of Rockets forward Drew Hoff.

For over a decade the Cougars dominated the league, winning seven Big 6 championships between 1989 and 2001, including a three-peat from 1999 to 2001. The Cougars last made the league final during the 2006-07 season and will look to inch closer to that feat this year with their young group in Carlyle.

"We've been out five times and things are looking like where we left off last year," explained Cougars Head Coach, Tim Lequyer. "Pretty much the same group, lost a couple and added a couple, we're looking forward to getting started. We're looking forward to them growing, we were a very young group last year. 21 of our 25 players have played minor hockey in Carlyle and I think that shows a lot, and that we've made a commitment to keeping those young guys playing."

The Head Coach is also looking forward to the renewed rivalry between the Cougars and the Combines.

"For us it's great, the rivalry is awesome and hopefully we can fill the rinks in Arcola and Carlyle. It's just great for the two communities, it's good to have a long time member back in the league."

With the addition of the Combines, Lequyer is also happy about the league collapsing to one division and the schedule that associates with it.

"I like the 24 game schedule, that's about the right amount in my mind. I think that's the best way to run it and hopefully we're one of the teams to make the playoffs. The schedule is really good for keeping the community rinks open longer. If we would have shortened the schedule, senior hockey would have been done by mid February so I think its a really good move to keep the interest and support the rinks."

2016-17 Regular Season Notes

  • The Cougars finished last in the West Division with 2 wins and 18 losses.
  • Ben Johnstone led the team in scoring with 8 goals and 8 assists in 14 games played.
  • The Cougars managed to win one quarterfinal playoff game against Redvers and would lose in overtime of game four.

The renewed rivalry between the Cougars and Combines will open the regular season on Friday, November 3rd in Carlyle at 8:00 p.m. Fans can listen to that game on CJ1150.

Click here to view the Cougars 2017-18 regular season schedule.