The Cariboo Cougars were the top team in the league all season.
But after three gruelling rounds of the playoffs in the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League, the Cougars instead found themselves accepting silver medals Saturday at centre ice at Kin 1. The third-ranked high-scoring Vancouver Northeast Chiefs had just defeated them 6-4 in Game 2 in the best-of-three championship final to win the league title.
"It was a tough loss and everyone was very emotional," said Cougars general manager and co-head coach Trevor Sprague. "But at the end of the day, what this team has done, winning the Mac's tournament (this year), we've done more than anybody else in the league and that's pretty special. It gives us a great footprint and good expectations for the guys coming in next year. It's a great thing for the program but it was a different result in the (league) championship round."
The Cougars last hoisted the championship trophy in 2008, but it was the fifth time in the team's history the Cats have lost the final with Sprague at the helm.
Even though the Cougars opened Game 1 Friday with a two-goal lead, the Chiefs scored twice 20 seconds apart on a four-minute power play to tie the game.
Sprague points to that lack of discipline that hurt them the most in the final round.
"It just shows that in the final dance, certain things can cost you," said Sprague. "Every year we've lost in the finals, we've been in the penalty box and we have to take responsibility for ourselves. Our players have to think of the guys in front of them, not about the number on their own backs. Penalties hurt us and we have to hold guys accountable.
"But it was still a great year dealing with the players, parents, volunteers and more importantly the player billets."
Exit interviews and the team banquet are later this week. Sprague expects to lose 12 of his 16 and 17-year-old players to the Junior A or Major Junior ranks.
The Cougars top goaltending tandem of Griffen Outhouse and Dorrin Luding will be broken up next season as 17-year-old Outhouse is expected to get a good shot of making the Western Hockey League's Victoria Royals for the 2015-16 campaign.
The 15-year-old Luding, a Saskatoon Blades prospect, was hampered by injuries the last-half of the season.
"Luding had a tough time being out, but the adversity he faced and the kind of player he is.... Griffen talked to him and told him he was a year ahead of where he was at the same age. Having a one-two tandem on our team, you don't get an opportunity to have a top-two like that. Dorrin will be our number one guy next year. A lot of things that happened to him have made him a better goaltender."
Other top prospects include Cougars 17-year-old captain Austin Gray was signed by the Portland Winterhawks this season. Forward Steven Jandric is a Salmon Arm Silverbacks prospect.
The BCMMHL also has other top WHL prospects such as forward Caleb Fantillo of the Chiefs who scored four goals in two games against the Cougars in the championship series. Fantillo is a Medicine Hat Tigers prospect.
Fantillo was in the Tigers' camp last season, but Medicine Hat returned him to the Chiefs for an extra year of development.
Sprague said it's a benefit to the league having those players develop in major midget before taking the next step to the junior A and major junior ranks.
"With Griffen, he came here as a 16-year-old and his whole development with us has been great," said Sprague.
