Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos
On Sunday, October 5th, the Sault College Cougars kicked off their 2025–26 ACHA Division II regular season in front of a home crowd at the Northern Community Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, skating to an exciting 5–3 win over the visiting Concordia Falcons.
The Cougars came out flying in their season debut, striking first at 16:22 when Ethan Novello buried the opening goal of the campaign off a crisp feed from Caleb Wood.
Concordia answered midway through the frame as Andrew Malek capitalized on a power play at 13:42, assisted by Charlie Emme and Garrett Wilderman, to even the score at one.
The Cougars quickly reclaimed the lead less than a minute later at 12:53, when Caleb Wood took advantage of a defensive turnover and fired home an unassisted marker to make it 2–1 Sault College after the first.
The second period saw the Cougars continue to press offensively. At 18:35, Jacob Kovacs extended the lead to 3–1 with a strong finish off a setup from Harley Wardell.
Concordia battled back again with another power-play goal at 7:16, as Charlie Emme found the back of the net from Tommy Cassel and Wilderman, cutting the lead to one heading into the third.
The Falcons tied the game early in the third when Tommy Cassel scored at 16:08, assisted by Malek, once again on the man advantage — their third power-play goal of the night.
But the Cougars showed resilience down the stretch. Brock Santa Maria put the home side ahead for good at 13:10, finishing a feed from Nick Jameus to make it 4–3. Then, with just 7:26 remaining, the Cougars sealed the win when Harley Wardell, Brodie McLeod, and Cam Lemcke combined for a beautiful passing play that ended with Wardell burying the fifth and final goal.
Between the pipes, goaltender Keenan Marks stood tall in net for Sault College, turning aside key chances to preserve the lead in the final minutes, while Austin Bartel handled goaltending duties for Concordia.
Cougar coach Tanner Burton told Saultsports that “opening the season against CUW is always great. They are a great team. A top 10 team in our region. It’s a good test for us right off the hop. They have a lot of good talent, they are big, physical, and well coached by Shea Klitzke.”
“I thought we brought a really big effort today. We took the game to them for id say 45 out of 60 minutes. We have a few things to clean up but for playing our first game of the year against a really good team like CUW, we executed our systems well, we played hard, physical, and fast, and Moops stopped the ones he had too and more. Very happy with our game and very happy with the 5-3 win as the result. Now our focus turns to Michigan State.” added Burton.
Next up, the Sault College Cougars will look to build on their strong start when they return to action on Friday, October 10th, hosting the Michigan State Spartans at the Northern Community Centre. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m., as the Cougars aim to make it two straight to open their ACHA DII season.
