The LJ Contracting Cougars have done a lot more winning than losing this season. The objective now is to finish the year with five more victories.
If they pull off that feat, they'll celebrate a provincial title on home ice.
Starting Monday at the Kin Centre, the Cougars will host the B.C. Hockey Midget Tier 2 championship tournament. They enter the eight-team event with a season record of 32-14-6.
"It would be a pretty unique experience," Cougars head coach Wes Scott said about the possibility of skating to B.C. gold in front of a hometown crowd. "We've been pretty fortunate this year to play lots of home games. One of the things that normally concerns me is playing in front of the families, and when you don't play in front of the families very much there's nerves - people holding the sticks too tight. But this year we played lots of games at home, probably 15 games at home, plus this week. So that experience is behind the kids and I'm hoping that they just play their game and not get caught up with who's in the crowd."
The 15- to 17-year-old Cougars already know what it feels like to win a tournament at home. Back in November, they skated to gold at their own event. In the final, they downed the Kelowna Rockets 2-1. Other tournament championships for the Cats came in Quesnel and Williams Lake.
The Cougars - who were also Cariboo league champions this season thanks to a 2-1 series victory against the Williams Lake Timberwolves - will open provincials at 6:45 p.m. on Monday with a game against the Castlegar Rebels. On Tuesday, the Cats will take on the Fort St. John Flyers at 6:15 p.m. and they'll close out pool play with a Wednesday tilt against the Vernon Vipers (6:15 p.m.).
Clubs in the other pool are Williams Lake, the Aldergrove Bruins, the Campbell River Tyees and the Mission Stars.
At the conclusion of pool play, the top two teams in each group will cross over for semifinal contests on Thursday morning. The winners will battle for the B.C. banner that night (8 p.m. start). All tournament games will be held at Kin 1.
Members of the Cougars are Zachary Parlee, Mathew Ens, Mason Roche, Landon Kitchen, Robert Legare, Jayce Schweizer, Dean Whitcomb, Tyler Marsh, Tanner Riplinger, Ryan Whitehead, Matthias Urbanski, Matthew MacSemniuk, Garet Anderson, Corbin Normand, Ryan Watson, Bailey McFaul and Raymond Prive. Parlee and Ens are the goaltenders.
Scott's staff, meanwhile, is rounded out by assistant coaches Jordan Carstairs and Jared Rathjen and by manager Glen Whitehead.
Scott said there is a high level of parity in the midget Tier 2 division so he doesn't expect his club to have any easy games.
"We're going to get a blend of three things," he said. "We're going to play a real rough-and-tumble game against Fort St. John, we're going to play a real fast team in Vernon and then the Castlegar game is going to be a blend of both those. Castlegar's got some real experienced hockey players that can play either way."
Schedule
B.C. Hockey Midget Tier 2 Championship
All games at Kin 1
Monday, March 14
Aldergrove vs. Williams Lake, 10 a.m.
Vernon vs. Fort St. John, 12:45 p.m.
Campbell River vs. Mission, 3:30 p.m.
Opening Ceremony, 6:15 p.m.
Prince George vs. Castlegar, 6:45 p.m.
Tuesday, March 15
Mission vs. Aldergrove, 10 a.m.
Castlegar vs. Vernon, 12:45 p.m.
Williams Lake vs. Campbell River, 3:30 p.m.
Fort St. John vs. Prince George, 6:15 p.m.
Wednesday, March 16
Mission vs. Williams Lake, 10 a.m.
Castlegar vs. Fort St. John, 12:45 p.m.
Aldergrove vs. Campbell River, 3:30 p.m.
Vernon vs. Prince George, 6:15 p.m.
Thursday, March 17
First in Division A vs. Second in Division B, 8 a.m.
First in Division B vs. Second in Division A, 11 a.m.
Bronze Medal Game, 5 p.m.
Gold Medal Game, 8 p.m.
