COUGARS opened their Under 18 play-offs campaign with a hard-fought 3-2 victory at Sheffield Steelhawks.
Although they finished runners-up in the Southern League behind Bracknell Drones, Swindon came out on top in the first leg of their semi-final play-off with the Northern Under 18 champions.
Cougars were under the cosh for long periods but defended stoutly with netminder Olli Lansdowne outstanding.
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He produced a man-of-the-match performance, pulling off a string of saves and turning away all but two of the 48 shots on his net.
In sharp contrast Sheffield's goallie Ben Bowns, who had just returned from winning a silver medal with the GB Under 18 team, was beaten three times in only 12 shots.
Steelhawks Joshua Wilson opened the scoring at 13.14 but Stevie Whitfield struck the equaliser from a Grant Richardson pass at 14.40.
Twenty-eight seconds later Ciaran Long, voted most improved player of the year for the Swindon Wildcats at their awards ceremony 24 hours earlier, put Cougars into a 2-1 lead on a delayed penalty after excellent passing play from Sam Feeney and Joey Lewis.
The second period was closely fought with Lansdowne stopping 17 shots.
At the other end, Shannon Taylor notched a third Cougars goal at 26.27, from another Grant Richardson pass.
The third session saw Lansdowne tested 21 times but only beaten once at 47.52.
Cougars go into the second leg on April 19 at the Link Centre (12.25pm) looking for a place in the final.
Cougars scorers: Whitfield, C Long and S Taylor all 1+0; G Richardson 0+2; Feeney and Lewis 0+1.
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