If the Cariboo Cougars win the 2017 Telus Cup national midget hockey championship, they will go where just one other B.C. team has gone before.
The Burnaby Winter Club ran the table with seven straight wins to capture the title in 1982 when it was known as the Air Canada Cup, leaning on their tournament MVP and scoring champion - Cliff Ronning - before he became slightly more famous as an undersized NHL scoring star.
Based on history alone, the Cougars have inherited an underdog tag in the six-team Telus Cup, April 24-30 at CN Centre. Thirty-five years have passed since Ronning and and his Burnaby squad hosted the trophy and Cougars head coach Trevor Sprague knows his team will have to buck long odds to have a triumphant end to their season.
Dating back to 2011, eight of the last 12 Telus Cup finalists have been from Canada's two most-populous provinces - Ontario and Quebec. The two most recent champions - North York Rangers and Toronto Young Nationals - were Ontario teams representing the Central region.
"I think anybody who comes from Ontario or Quebec are the favourites," said Sprague, whose
Cougars defeated the Greater Vancouver Canadians 4-0 to win the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League playoff final March 26 at Kin 1.
The way Sprague has it figured, Ontario and Quebec teams have more players to choose from when picking their teams and more quality opponents to play during the season within provincial boundaries, which makes it more difficult to win championships.
"That definitely benefits them, but at the end of the day you've still got to compete and on any given day any of the top six team in the country can win that tournament," Sprague said.
"I think the lineup we have coming the tournament is probably one of the best they've ever seen at the Telus Cup. Every team deserves to be here.
"I don't think they've had a host like our team for a long time, except for when we hosted it when it was called Air Canada Cup (2001) and we were Pacific champs then. Our guys have earned it to be there, we won B.C. and we're getting ready for it."
Since the national midget tournament began in 1974, when it was known as the Wrigley Cup, Quebec teams have dominated the medal count, with 10 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze. But Saskatchewan has the most championships with 14. Over a nine-year stretch that started in 2002 and ended in 2010, Saskatchewan captured the Telus Cup title six times.
Alberta teams have won the national title a total of six times and Ontario has four championships.
This year, the Cougars are in the Telus Cup mix with the Leduc Chrysler Oil Kings (Pacific), Regina Pat Canadians (West), Mississauga Rebels (Central), Saint-Francois Blizzard (Quebec) and Cape Breton West Islanders (Atlantic).
The Cougars open against Leduc on Monday, April 24 at 7:30 p.m. and the Alberta champions have to be considered the most surprising team to make the cut.
They finished fifth in their league standings with a 14-15-5 record but it turned it on in the playoffs, defeating the Foothills CFR Chemical Bisons in the final.
Sprague saw the Oil Kings play nearly four months ago at the Mac's tournament in Calgary.
"They're just a blue collar workhorse team with good goaltending and the capitalize on their opportunities when they get them and they play a disciplined game," said Sprague. "They're a team that plays well together and it looks like they peaked at the right time."
After winning the Saskatchewan regular season title with 36-6-0-2 record, the Pat Canadians went 9-2 in the playoffs, sweeping Tisdale 3-0 in the championships series. Regina went 4-0 at the West regionals in Steinbach, Man., to claim the Telus Cup berth,
April 2, finishing the playoffs on an 11-0 streak.
"They're a high-octane hockey team and they like to pursue the puck and they have some fast guys who can score some goals," said Sprague. "If you give them a lot of time and space they can do some damage. Their special teams are good, their power play seems to be clicking all the time."
In their most recent Telus Cup appearance, in 2015, Regina placed third.
The Blizzard just wrapped up playoffs last weekend, two weeks after the Cougars clinched their title. Saint-Francois will be at nationals for the 16th time and first time since 2008.
Sprague admits he doesn't know much about the Quebec champions or the other two teams from eastern Canada - Mississauga and Cape Breton. But what he does know is Cougars assistant coach Bryan MacLean has a soft spot in his heart for people from Nova Scotia, his home province.
"I did have to ask him if he's going to cheer more for them or for us," laughed Sprague.
Telus Cup teams will carry 22-player rosters and that means the Cougars will have two additions - centre Craig MacDonald, who played the provincial-champion Coast Inn of the North midget Tier 1 Cougars, and defenceman Zach Minaker of Kitimat, who played this season at Pacific Coast Academy. Minaker, 17, was picked by the Prince George Cougars in the ninth round of the 2015 bantam draft.
"We're only allowed to dress 20 players, so this is for injuries or if a guy on our team is not playing the way he needs to play and we sit him and put one of these guys in," said. Sprague. "But I would think the 20 guys who have been here all year are probably not going to give them that opportunity, unless there's an injury."
All games will be played at CN Centre, rather than wider Olympic ice at Kin 1, the midget Cats' usual home. The WHL Cougars have lent equipment manager Chico Dhanjal to the midget team and have granted them use of their CN Centre dressing room during the tournament.
