The Cariboo Cougars knew going into their weekend series against the Kootenay Ice there was a high likelihood they'd come away from the rink at Kin 1 with a two-game sweep.
The Cougars have owned first place in the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League almost since the start of the season and the Ice, while off to the best start in the team's 10-year history, are in a dogfight just to make the playoffs in the 11-team league.
The Cougars lived up to expectations, winning 8-0 on Saturday and 10-1 on Sunday, their final home games of 2016 as they prepare for the Mac's tournament which starts Dec. 26 in Calgary.
Knowing the calibre of teams coming to Calgary, the Cougars set some team goals for the series with the Ice to help raise their intensity level and according to head coach Trevor Sprague, his players responded accordingly.
"For our guys it was about challenging them on some goals the coaching staff had that they had to reach," said Sprague. "We started to see in Kelowna and against the (Vancouver Northwest) Giants we weren't doing the right things by competing in the right way. All week we worked on being competitive and set some goals like getting 40 shots (per game), no more than 12 minutes in penalties and no 10-minute misconducts. We did a lot of good things like that. It's tough to keep your team playing when you're up 5-0 after the first period."
The Cougars' offence showed its depth in Sunday's game with seven different players producing goals. Mason Richey was the big gun in Saturday's game, collecting three goals and an assist.
As noteworthy as the offensive stats have been this season, scoring 107 goals in 22 games (an average 4.86 goals per game), even more impressive is the Cougars' commitment to playing defence. Through 22 games they've allowed just 37 goals (a 1.68 average).
"Our team is dedicated to defence and when we turn over pucks we're willing to get those pucks back and are willing to buy in with back-check with all five guys working in the zone together," said Sprague. "And when we do break down we have the goaltenders to make the saves."
Goaltender Marcus Allen had a quiet day Sunday while the Cougars outshot the ice 66-11. Kootenay goalie Jaysen MacLaren, having allowed 10 goals on 45 shots through two periods, shut the door on the Cougars in the third period. He stopped all 21 shots he faced in the final 20 minutes.
Kootenay defenceman Matthew Cooper scored the only Ice goal of the weekend midway through the second period Sunday.
The win improved the first-place Cougars' record to 19-2-1-0 while Kootenay (9-13-0-0) remained eighth in the league. The Cougars now hold a five-point advantage over the second-place Okanagan Rockets, who split their weekend series in Abbotsford with Fraser Valley.
The Ice appears likely to eclipse its best-ever 11-28-1 record, set in 2009-10.
"We're at nine right now and we're not really looking at the win bracket, we're looking to make playoffs, and that's a big step for this team," said Ice head coach Kris Royce.
Based in Trail, the Ice has players from as far away as Whitehorse, Yukon; Port Alberni and Vanderhoof. For Vanderhoof native Simon Nemethy, a 15-year-old rookie forward, the weekend series in Prince George was as close as he'll get to playing at home this season unless the Ice wins its way into the Telus Cup national championship the Cougars will host in April.
"It was a tough weekend – obviously with them hosting Telus Cup, they're a tough team and it didn't turn out very well," said Nemethy. "Our goalie (MacLaren) was amazing in the third period and made some unbelievable saves and he was injured too. He hurt his shoulder in the second."
With three Ice forwards suspended and two more hurt in the weekend games, Nemethy was double-shifted Sunday. He's had to make a steep adjustment from last season when he was playing Tier 3 bantam hockey in Vanderhoof.
"It's definitely a lot faster pace than what I played last year, with bigger, stronger guys who skate faster and shoot harder," said the six-foot, 160-pound Nemethy.
Cougars centre Ty Kolle was held to just one assist Sunday and was probably the most snakebitten of the Cougar forwards. Playing on a line with Richey and Daine DuBois, the 16-year-old from Quesnel had more than a handful of great scoring chances but couldn't beat MacLaren. Kolle, who had a goal and an assist on Saturday, was sent back to the major midget ranks a couple weeks ago from the WHL's Portland Winterhawks.
"Being a 16-year-old in the WHL is tough, you don't get ice and it's hard on your confidence," said Kolle. "Spending half the year in Portland and coming back here, my confidence is pretty high here. Getting more icetime, being a second-year, it's pretty awesome. We're just a really strong, close group of guys. We got 18 goals this weekend and only gave up one. We didn't let up and it definitely went in our favour."
In Saturday's game, with Jake Kemp in net, the Ice held the Cougars to 20 shots and trailed by only a 3-0 count through 40 minutes. Richey and Jeremy Gervais each scored twice in the final frame and Reid Perepeluk, while shorthanded, capped the scoring. Zach Wickson made 15 saves for his fifth shutout of the season. The shots ended up 37-15 in favour of the Cougars.
The Cougars will play in Nanaimo this weekend against the North Island Silvertips. At the Mac's, the Cougars will try to improve on last year's semifinal finish.
