It's an indicator of success over a long period of time.
For the seventh consecutive year, the Cariboo Cougars have been invited to compete in the Mac's AAA Midget Hockey Tournament, an international event considered to be the most reputable in the world for the age group. The tournament will run from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1 in Calgary.
"Seven years in a row is a pretty big thing," said Trevor Sprague, head coach of the Cougars for six of their nine seasons of existence. "You don't get too many teams, besides the Calgary teams, that get to go there that many times in a row so it's pretty prestigious for our organization to be able to do that and represent our league and the north at one of the best tournaments in the world."
The Mac's is a 25-team gathering. Clubs from Canada, the United States and Europe typically attend.
This year's schedule hasn't yet been released but Sprague has heard through the hockey grapevine that teams from Russia and the Czech Republic will be in the Mac's lineup.
The 15- to 17-year-old Cougars play in the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League and are currently in second place with a 13-3 record. Sprague anticipates seeing the first-place Vancouver Northwest Giants (13-0-1), third-place Okanagan Rockets (10-2-2) and fourth-place Vancouver Northeast Chiefs (9-5-2) at the Mac's as well.
The goal for the Cougars, as usual, is to qualify for the eight-team playoff round. To do that, they'll have to win their five-team pool or have one of the next-best records overall.
"We've done it once or twice in the last seven years," Sprague said. "This year is no different than any other year. Our expectation is to make playoffs and see how far we can run with it. At the same time, it comes down to consistency. Everybody has to buy into their roles and play 60 minutes of hockey the way the Cariboo Cougars can play."
The Cariboo players received the Mac's news on Wednesday and their reaction was to be expected.
"They're pumped," Sprague said. "I talked to [captain] Ryan [Forbes] and [assistant captain] Tyler [Povelofskie] and told them congratulations for them being part of our leadership group and having our team make it. That was one of our goals for the first half of the season. They're pretty excited to go back there and show what the Cariboo Cougars have to offer."
This will be the second Mac's appearance for both Forbes and Povelofskie. Forward Eli Jarvis is the only Cariboo player who will skate in the tournament for the third time.
