The quest for the Telus Cup national midget hockey championship starts today for the Cariboo Cougars.
Northern B.C.'s top regional midget team opens training camp this evening at CN Centre with practices at 6:45 and 8 p.m.
The 40-player group that will gather on the ice this weekend will be on young side of the midget age spectrum, with several Cougars players away at junior camps. Forward Jesse Roach is trying out for the Vancouver Giants, and three roster players -- defenceman Todd Bredo, forward Austin Gray and forward Colton Thomas -- are attending the Prince George Spruce Kings camp at the Coliseum this weekend.
The midget Cats are missing forward forward Justin Almeida (Prince George Cougars, WHL), forward Darren Hards (Vancouver Giants, WHL), forward Colton Carpenter (Chilliwack Chiefs, BCHL) and goalie Dorin Luding (Saskatoon Blades, WHL). Luding, who moved to Prince George from Vancouver in the off-season, missed the Cariboo Cats August tryouts with a sprained knee ligament but is healthy again.
"We want to get it down to 25 players after this weekend and then we'll see how we look when everybody's back [on Sept. 15th]," said Cariboo Cougars head coach Trevor Sprague. "We have until the 15th to pick our team."
Sprague is back behind the bench this season after giving up his coaching duties to Bryan MacLean in a one-year league-sponsored experiment that kept him focused on being the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League team's general manager. Sprague coached the team for seven seasons before he took the role as GM.
Former Farr Fabricating bantam Tier 1 goalie Jake Sweet is in the netminding mix as well as Griffen Outhouse of Williams Lake, who played the past two seasons for the Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy in Kelowna. A new face on the Cariboo Cats blueline is WHL Cougars draft pick Joel Patsey of Hazelton. Chase Dubois is back for another season after finishing fourth in team scoring last season with 18 goals and 28 points.
"It's going to be a strong team, our goaltending is going to be very good and I'm excited to see what the last six [goalies] we have in camp will do this weekend," said Sprague. "Our defence is going to look young. If Carpenter comes back from Chilliwack he'll be our go-to guy on defence and Patsey has come a long way and I'm pretty excited to watch him this year. Our forwards should be full-octane with Gray and Thomas and Almeida."
The team has graduated three players to the BCHL ranks, including forward and leading scorer Steven Jandric (Salmon Arm Silverbacks), forward Tyler Povelofski (Vernon Vipers), and goalie Nathan Warren (Nanaimo Clippers). Former Cariboo Cats defenceman Bryan Allbee is now in the WHL with the Kootenay Ice.
Following fitness testing Saturday from 11 a.m. - noon, the team has a goalie instruction session planned for 1 p.m. at CN Centre. Scrimmages are scheduled for Saturday at 2:30 and 7 p.m. and Sunday at 12:45 p.m.
The team will be in Kelowna next weekend to a series of exhibition games starting Friday, Sept. 5 against the Kootenay Ice midgets. The following day the Cats play Pacific Coast Hockey Academy of Victoria and Pursuit of Excellence, ending on Sunday, Sept 7 with a preseason game against the Burnaby Winter Club.
