Their top two goalies may be a little banged up, but that hasn't stopped the Cariboo Cougars from climbing to the top of the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League.
The Cats clawed to the top of the standings after a pair of road victories - 5-2 and 11-2 - on the weekend against the last-place Thompson Blazers.
The Cougars extended their winning streak to five and are now 8-1-1 with 17 points, one point ahead of the 8-0 Vancouver Northwest Giants.
Dorin Luding was between the pipes in Saturday's win in Chase, while afffiliated player and goalie Jake Sweet, called up from the Coast Inn midget Tier 1 Cougars, picked up the win Sunday.
"The boys opened up a can of whoop-ass on Sunday," said Cougars co-coach Trevor Sprague. "We've had two really good weekends on the road and that's acceptable in my eyes."
Sweet was called in to replace Griffin Outhouse, who wound up with seven stitches on the side of his foot after being sliced with a skate in the dressing room.
Luding is also dealing with an off-the-ice injury after a teammate stepped on his foot with a skate a couple weeks ago. The incident had temporarily forced him out of action.
"Outhouse won't be ready for this weekend... so much for wanting some adversity," said Sprague.
The Cougars will face some this weekend when they return home to face the South Island Royals, who are in the middle of the pack with a 4-8 record.
The teams square off Saturday at 7:15 p.m. and Sunday at 9:30 a.m. Both games are at Kin 1.
Even though there's a nine-point difference between them, Sprague knows the hosts can't take their visitors lightly.
"The Royals have [former Cougars goaltender] Lane Delfs and they're a little greasy to play against," said Sprague. "It'll be a tough battle - we just played the worst team in the league and now we're playing a team in the middle that's pushing to move up the standings."
The view from the league's top perch means other teams will take to the ice ready to play, Sprague added.
"At 8-1, other teams in the league are coming after us. We need to maintain what we're doing and win both games and our guys need to come in ready to play."
The Cougars will find out in November if they're playing in the international Mac's triple-A tournament in Calgary during the Christmas holidays.
"That's one of our goals," said Sprague. "We're playing playoff hockey right now and there are no easy games. The guys know they have to look after themselves and they're buying into the team system."
