With the sting of an embarrassing loss still fresh on their minds, all the Cariboo Cougars did was go out and crush the Kootenay Ice by a combined score of 19-2 in a pair of games in Trail on the weekend.
The Cougars skated to an 8-1 victory Sunday and an 11-1 win Saturday to regain their lead atop the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League with an 11-2-1 record and 23 points.
On Sunday, the Cougars scored six goals in the third period to earn the win. Dorin Luding picked up the victory in net.
Saturday, captain Austin Gray had a pair of goals and four assists, while Colton Thomas had five points (two goals, three assists). Justin Almeida had a hat trick and Steven Jandric scored once and added three assists to lead the way for the Cats.
Griffen Outhouse got the win between the pipes to improve to 6-1.
The Cougars' two-game sweep in Trail came after a 7-3 loss to the fifth-place South Island Royals Oct. 26.
"We've been relying on our talent and not working hard and not being smart," said Cougars co-coach Trevor Sprague said. "We got beat [by South Island] and that shouldn't happen with our talented hockey team. We've got to work hard as a five-man unit.
"We had a good hard week of practice and on Sunday we had a good first two periods and we ended up with an 8-1 win. We have a lot of talent and it just came in waves."
The Cougars hope to maintain their lead atop the league when they host the 5-4-3 Fraser Valley Thunderbirds Saturday (12:45 p.m.) and Sunday (1:15 p.m.) at CN Centre.
The Abbotsford-based T-birds are soaring after they beat the Valley West Hawks 4-2 Sunday and skated to a 3-3 tie Saturday.
"They're on a high after beating the Hawks," said Sprague. "They're a very physical team. With us being in first place, the guys understand other teams are going to try and knock us off."
The second-place Vancouver Northwest Giants (10-2) are in Kamloops this weekend for a pair of clashes against the last-place Thompson Blazers.
The Giants lost their first two games of the season last weekend, 3-2 and 3-1 against the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs.
