The Cariboo Cougars are still intent on earning an invitation to play in the prestigious Mac's Midget Hockey Tournament in Calgary.
On Sunday they made that post-Christmas trip a possiblity, scoring a 5-2 win over the North Island Silvertips to sweep a two-game weekend series at CN Centre.
Jesse Roach swatted in the rebound of Isaiah Berra's shot for the gamewinner Sunday afternoon on a Cougars power play midway through the third period and the Cats added empty-net goals from Cole Morris and Greg Dakus. That came on the heels of a 6-2 win over the Silvertips Saturday night.
Lane Delfs made 25 saves in the Cougar nets Sunday as the Cougars were forced to come back from a 2-0 deficit after one period. Delfs, a 16-year-old from Fort St. John, was at his best in the opening frame and his team responded with a much better effort in the final to periods.
"A couple goals there tested my focus but I kind of came back and I glad about the result," said Delfs. "They came to play today and we were a bit too cocky from the [Saturday's] game but after a bit of talking to in the dressing room we got back in it."
Riley Pettitt and Steven Jandric, on a 5-on-3 power play, scored in the second period for the Cats. Joe Surgenor and Trent Bell staked the Silvertips to a 2-0 lead, set up by Hunter Findlater, who had both goals in the Silvertips' loss on Saturday.
"We stuck with it for 60 minutes and in the second half of the hockey game we really started to take the game to them and got back to doing what we need to do to be successful and we liked what we saw," said Cougars head coach Bryan MacLean. "Early in the game they had some opportunities to score and Lane kept them at bay and gave us a chance to win. It's good to see different guys contributing offensively and that's the sign of a good hockey team."
On Saturday, Chase Dubois spiced the Cougar offence with three goals, Jandric scored two and Berra added a single. Jeremy Matte made 17 saves in goal for Cariboo.
After a rough start., the Cougars are starting to gain some confidence and the results are starting to show. They're 5-2-1 over their last eight games and 8-7-1 overall, three points ahead of the Silvertips (6-8-2).
The two-win weekend turned out even better from a Cougars' perspective when they learned the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs lost both their games to the Valley West Hawks. The South Island Royals had the weekend off, which vaulted the Cougars from sixth place to fourth, ahead of the Royals and Chiefs. Usually the top four BCMMHL teams are invited to the Mac's. The league-leading Okanagan Rockets and second-place Vancouver Northwest Giants are already in, but the Cougars won't know until later this week if they're on the list.
"It depends on when the Mac's made the decision," said Cougars general manager Trevor Sprague. "If they made it last week, we're out, but hopefully we're in."
