The goal-scoring magic of Hunter Floris finished off each of the Cariboo Cougars’ weekend wins over the Vancouver Northwest Giants.
His overtime winner Saturday night with five seconds left in the five-minute OT session was pretty to watch for Cougar fans gathered around the ice at Kin 1 and it ultimately decided a 1-0 game.
But for pure entertainment value that lamp-lighter couldn’t hold a candle to the dazzling moves Floris pulled off scoring the Cougars’ sixth goal in a 6-2 triumph over the Giants in the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League rematch Sunday morning.
He took off with the puck along the right wing boards just outside his own blueline and after leaving two Giant defenders fishing for the puck, Floris darted towards the crease with no Giant defender in sight except for goalie Niklas Hoem. Floris went wide and tucked the puck into the open net with 2:45 left on the clock.
Tanner Bahm, Brett Fudger, Matthew Marotta, Brennan Malgunas and Mason Richey also scored. Owen Christenson and Cooper Connell accounted for the Giants’ offence.
Marcus Allen made 21 saves Sunday in the Cougar nets and they outshot the Giants 33-23.
The Cougars jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first period and chased starting goalie Jack Ford from the game after outshooting the Giants 17-6 in the opening 20 minutes.
Saturday’s score reflected what was an evenly-played game and Floris ended it with just five seconds left – a shot from the slot after linemate Richey dug the puck out to him.
“We got off to a better start today and just maintained that pace throughout the game and they couldn’t keep up with us and we made them pay for it,” said Floris. “Going into our bye weekend only a game up (on Valley West) we need all the wins we can get to keep pace with them and this was a big one for us.”
The two wins moved the Cougars (14-3-1-0) into first place in the BCHMML, two points ahead of the Valley West Hawks, who have played two fewer games.
The Cougars have the league’s second-most potent offence, trailing only the Hawks, and Cariboo head coach Tyler Brough said while they had their troubles scoring Saturday it was only a matter of time before they found their targets.
“It was just bearing down around the net and it paid off – we had plenty of opportunity to score some goals (Saturday) and they just didn’t go in for us,” said Brough. “We wanted to get lots of pucks and traffic on the net (Sunday) and it kind of worked and we got three in the first period.”
Floris now ranks eighth in the league scoring race with 15 goals and seven assists for 22 points in 15 games. He was called up to the B.C. Hockey League’ Vernon Vipers last weekend and wasn’t available to the Cougars when they split a BCHMML series at Kin 1 with Fraser Valley. Floris will return to Vernon as an affiliated player this weekend, and while Brough likes to see his players advance to higher levels he was happy to have the 17-year-old from Vanderhoof back scoring goals for the Cats.
“He scored the overtime winner (Saturday) and scores a goal like that (Sunday),” said Brough. “He’s a special player and anytime you have him in your lineup he’s going to do things like that – the wow factor. It’s nice having him back, it’s nice to have that firepower.”
