The Cariboo Cougars skated against one of the elite teams in the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League and showed they can be one of those clubs themselves.
During a weekend doubleheader at Kin 1, the Cougars fell 5-2 to the Greater Vancouver Canadians on Saturday but rebounded with a 6-4 win on Sunday. With the results, the Canadians (6-2-0) moved into first place in the 11-team MML. The Cats (4-4-0) now sit fourth overall.
In the opener, the teams were tied 1-1 after the first period and the Canadians had a 3-2 advantage after the second. The Canadians sealed the victory by scoring the only two goals of the third.
Eli Jarvis and Harjas Grewal gave the Cougars their goals. Nicolas Petan had a pair for the Canadians, who got their other markers from Jeremy Gossard, Arwin Atwal and Garrett Forster. Petan is property of the WHL's Portland Winterhawks, who selected him in the first round (16th overall) of the 2010 bantam draft.
In the rematch, the Cats had a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes, the goal by Nathan Craft. After a wild second period, the teams were in a 4-4 tie. The Cats, however, put the game away in the third with goals by Levon Johnson and Grewal.
Other sharpshooters for the Cougars were Chase Astorino, Luke Gordon and Tyson Witala. In the middle frame, Brodyn Nielsen netted a natural hat trick for the Canadians. Carter Popoff was the other Greater Vancouver goalscorer.
Nielsen (seven goals, 12 points), Petan (four goals, 12 points) and Greater Vancouver teammate Anthony Ast (four goals, 11 points) currently sit second, third and fourth in league scoring. Seb Lloyd of the Cougars is in the No. 5 spot. In his first eight games, he has one goal and an impressive 10 assists.
The Cougars will be in Castlegar for Saturday and Sunday games against the ninth-place Kootenay Ice (2-3-1).
