Head coach Bryan MacLean could do with a little less drama.
Last weekend, his Cariboo Cougars started their B.C. Hockey Major Midget League season with a pair of wins that were anything but ordinary. Skating in Richmond, the Cats downed the Greater Vancouver Canadians 4-3 and 6-5. In the first game, they had a 4-0 lead after two periods and survived a third-period charge by the Canadians. Then, in the rematch, the Cougars trailed 5-3 with 11:41 left to play but stormed back for the victory thanks to a Brogan O'Brien goal and two by Jesse Roach.
This weekend, the Cats will play their first home games when they take on the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds at CN Centre (Saturday, 3:30 p.m., Sunday, 9:15 a.m.).
For the sake of his blood pressure, MacLean would prefer to witness a couple of straightforward, convincing victories.
"One thing that we're taking out of [last] weekend is that we're able to close out close hockey games, which is nice," MacLean said. "You get into playoff hockey and that's something you need to be able to do, but I'd like to see us play more of a full 60 minutes as opposed to 40 minutes or 15 minutes, as we did [against the Canadians]. We want to have a full 60-minute effort and really start to work on the stuff we've been doing in practice."
The Cougars will put their 2-0 record on the line against a Fraser Valley club that has gone 1-3 so far and they'll take to the ice without O'Brien, who signed with the B.C. Hockey League's Prince George Spruce Kings on Thursday and will skate in the junior ranks for the rest of the season.
O'Brien, a 16-year-old hometown centreman listed at six-foot-one and 174 pounds, attended the Kings' main training camp in August and was welcomed into the organization as an affiliated player. He was called up for his first BCHL game last Friday and helped the visiting Kings beat the Coquitlam Express 3-2. O'Brien then proceeded to have a couple of dynamite games for the Cariboo squad and finished with six points (three goals, three assists) against the Canadians.
"Brogan played for the Spruce Kings on the Friday night and I think that really transferred into his game for the rest of the weekend," MacLean said. "He was real confident when he had the puck. He was good at both ends of the ice and, every shift, you knew what you were going to get."
MacLean said the Spruce Kings "really wanted [O'Brien] and there was no holding him back."
The Cariboo staff probably won't make a decision on O'Brien's replacement until early next week.
O'Brien's departure leaves Roach as the Cougars' leading scorer. The six-foot-four, 191-pound Quesnel product also had three goals and three helpers in the wins against the Canadians.
On the defensive side of the puck this weekend, the Cougars will have to keep watch on Fraser Valley forwards Andrew Strelezki, Brice Sharp and Nicholas Ponak, who are among the league scoring leaders after the first couple weeks of the season. Strelezki currently tops the league list with seven goals and 10 points, while Sharp (five goals, four assists) and Ponak (two goals, seven assists) are right on his heels.
The Thunderbirds haven't had much trouble scoring goals, with 18 in their four games. Keeping pucks out of their net, however, has been a problem. Heading into the series with the Cougars, they have been scored on 27 times, more than any other team in the league.
On the injury front, Cariboo defenceman Jonah Boston is still recovering from a concussion he suffered against the Okanagan Rockets in the final game of the pre-season. Forward Greg Dakus, meanwhile, has a strained shoulder and may not be ready for action this weekend. With the Cougars short on bodies, they'll bring in affiliated players Carson Stephen, Keith Redden and Mitchell Williams for the games against the T-birds.
