The WIC Cougars have their sights set on home-ice gold.
The Cougars, a bantam female rep team from the Prince George Minor Hockey Association, will host a four-team tournament at the Kin Centre this weekend. And they'd like nothing better than to have gold medals hanging around their necks by the time Sunday afternoon rolls around.
"Of course [the players] want to do well and perform well, and winning would be the goal," said Cougars head coach Grant Zimmerman.
"All of the teams are evenly-matched so there will be good competition," he added. "My thinking is that we will be in the final against Kamloops but the girls have to play well because all the teams will be tough."
Williams Lake and West Kootenay are the other two clubs that will skate in the event.
The Cougars will play their first game Friday at 3 p.m. against Williams Lake. At 5:30 p.m., they'll clash with Kamloops. On Saturday, the Cats will close out the round-robin portion of their schedule with a 10 a.m. game against West Kootenay. All of Prince George's round-robin contests will be played in Kin 3.
The playoff semifinals -- also in Kin 3 -- are set for Saturday at 4:45 p.m. (first vs. fourth) and 7 p.m. (second vs. third).
On Sunday, the bronze-medal game will be on Kin 3 ice at 7:45 a.m. and will be followed by the championship final at 10 a.m.
The Cougars will be going for their second tournament title of the season. In November, they skated to gold in Kamloops, where they went undefeated in five games, including a semifinal victory against Williams Lake (4-2) and a championship-game win against Tri-Cities (3-1).
The 13- and 14-year-old Cats didn't face Kamloops in that tournament. But Kamloops and Prince George have played two Okanagan Mainline Amateur Hockey Association league games this season and Kamloops won both by 3-1 scores. In league play, Kamloops is undefeated at 12-0 and the Cougars sit at 3-3.
"They are very quick and offensively-talented," Zimmerman said of the Kamloops players. "They cycle lots and they've got lots of team speed. They're fun to watch and they're fun to play against."
The Cougars aren't short on skill either, as evidenced by the fact 10 team members have earned roster spots for the B.C. Winter Games, Feb. 20-23 in Mission. Players on the Zone 8 squad are goaltender Olivia Johnson, defenceman Kenna Lloyd and forwards Mya Ziemer, Katie Young, Ciara King, Megan Goetken, Jordan Shanks, Kenna Derkson and McKenzie Muir. As well, blueliner Sophie Davis -- who is from Fort St. James -- made the Zone 7 team.
The Cougars also feature defencemen Isabel Zimmerman and Victoria Johnston and forwards Jordan McMillan and Alexa Mocilac.
"We're typically strong defensively and we need to get some goals -- three or four a game," Grant Zimmerman said of the type of hockey the Cats will have to play this weekend. "That's probably our key."
