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When the Burlington Cougars’ record-breaking season last year coincided with the formation of the Central Canadian Hockey League, many junior hockey observers chalked it up to the team playing in an inferior league.

After all, there had to be some explanation for a team that had averaged 23 wins over the previous decade to suddenly win 39 games and top the regular season standings for the first time since 1981. Skeptics pointed to the cartoon-like numbers put up by Greg Carey and Josh Jooris as further evidence — Carey eclipsed the Ontario Junior Hockey League record with 72 goals and Jooris fell just short of the league’s assist mark with 90 as the duo put up a combined 230 points.

Now with the OJHL reunited into one league after a one-year split, the Cougars are showing that last year’s success was no fluke and certainly not the result of watered-down competition. Once again playing its traditional rivals and league powers such as Oakville and Georgetown, Burlington hasn’t missed a beat. It’s three wins in four days all but sewed up first place as the Cougars extended their streak to 21 straight games in which they have earned a point, going 18-0-3 since last losing in regulation Nov. 6 against Aurora.

“A lot of teams didn’t think much of the CCHL,” said Phil Brewer, who has been pacing the team with his own remarkable season. “Coming back to the OJHL, we knew we could match up. We had a lot of returning forwards and (goalie Adrian) Volpe has been playing unreal. To come back and continue that success has been really good for us.”

Brewer earned first star honours in Burlington’s most recent three victories, which began with a 4-1 win over Brampton Thursday and was followed by a 9-3 triumph over Milton Saturday and capped with a 5-2 victory against Mississauga Sunday. The Cambridge native scored seven times in those games to continue a tear that has seen him light up opposing goalies for 17 goals in his last 11 games, more than doubling his season goal total.

“At the beginning of the year, I was passing first all the time,” the 20 year old said of his transformation from playmaker to sniper. “Then a few games I just took simple shots and they were going in so I thought, ‘Why not shoot?’”

While he’s still producing assists at a more than assist-per-game clip during his latest run, the extra goals have him approaching 100 points for the season, needing 13 in the Cougars’ last eight games.

If his teammates have anything to do with it Brewer may get there.

“He sets the precedent for the rest of the Cougars,” teammate Chris Carr said of the four-year veteran. “He’s a great friend and I hope he gets the 100 points. Doing that would be a pretty impressive feat.”

In fact, it would make him just the 13th player to hit the century mark since the team became the Cougars in 1976.

“When Josh and Carey did that (last year), I thought it was an amazing accomplishment,” Brewer said. “To do it would be a huge honour.”

The team’s captain, Brewer wanted to be a leader in the room and on the ice, where he set a lofty goal of being among the top five scorers in the league. But since taking over the league lead — he has 32 goals and 87 points in 40 games to lead Hamilton’s Zach Hyman by three — he has no intention of surrendering it.

There has now been a Brewer in the Cougars lineup for seven years after Phil came to the team, following in the footsteps of his brother Dan. While Dan, now playing for the University of Toronto Blues, topped out at 25 points in his last of three years, Phil is now just two points shy of 200 for his career.

“He was more of a physical, gritty leader, I’m more the one with the hands,” he says with a laugh. “We bug each other about that.”

Though he had just nine points in his rookie campaign, the younger Brewer’s contributions grew each year to 35 then to 67 last season, when he played much of the first half of the year with Carey and Jooris.

Brewer, who will play at Oswego State next season, is now showing he was no mere third wheel with his now-departed high scoring linemates.

“He’s the best player in the league,” said Cougars coach Dan Currie, “and not just offensively. Defensively, he’s hard on the puck. He’s a great kid.”

The Cougars are also proving they are a great team. They need just two wins in their last eight games to clinch first in the West Division, which they could do as early as next week — they play Collingwood, winners of just five games this year, Friday and are in Hamilton Monday night. With a 33-5-4 mark so far, matching last season’s team-record 81-point campaign is not out of the question. And this time, no one can doubt the Cougars’ earned it.