The Vancouver Northeast Chiefs made their first appearance in a championship final series count Saturday.
The Coquitlam-based Chiefs defeated the host Cariboo Cougars 6-4 Saturday at Kin 1 in Game 2 of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League championship to sweep the best-of-three series 2-0.
It was the first BCMMHL title for the Chiefs since the league began in 2004-05.
The Chiefs, who led the league in scoring with 201 goals, won Game 1 Friday night 5-3 at Kin 1.
"Yesterday (Friday) we were nervous in the first period being in a championship game it's hard to find composure when you haven't been there," said Chiefs head coach Jamie Jackson. "We needed to get through that, and we did and we made sure we got back to the way we play. In the second and third periods we built the momentum we wanted and we came in here and knew what was going to happen in the first period (Saturday) playing a desperate team and we wanted to try and make sure we scored first and that happened and we kind of knew we wanted to control the game."
Saturday, the Cougars, wearing their black road sweaters and desperate to win Game 2 to extend the series to a third and deciding Game 3 on Sunday, started the game throwing their weight around with hard-hitting body checks and dominating offensively outshooting the Chiefs 16-8 in the first period.
But it was the Chiefs who got on the board first at the 5:55 mark when forward Matthew Davis roofed a shot that beat Cougars netminder Griffen Outhouse.
Cougar defenceman Joel Patsey answered seven minutes later with a point shot that beat Chiefs netminder Liam McCloskey.
The Cougars took a brief 2-1 lead when forward Mitchell Williams tallied at the 14:27 mark, but Davis notched his second of the game 18 seconds later to tie it up.
Chiefs leading scorer Caleb Fantillo made good on a partial break-away as he snuck the puck past Outhouse two minutes later for a 3-2 lead after the first period.
Early in the second period, the Chiefs extended their lead to two on a backhand shot by Chong Min Lee. A point shot from Cougars defenceman Conor MacEachern two minutes later narrowed the lead to one, but the Chiefs restored the two-goal cushion when forward Ziyan Karim scored on the power play.
In the third, Cougar forward Steven Jandric scored a short-handed goal at the 5:16 mark and the Cats fought back to score the equalizer, but didn't have any luck.
Fantillo notched his second of the game at the 9:51 mark and the Chiefs held on for the win.
As soon as the final buzzer sounded, the Chiefs threw their sticks and gloves in the air and mobbed McCloskey in their championship celebration.
Three times in the game, the Cougars thought they scored, but it was after the referee blew his whistle.
"They (the Cougars) played a real good hockey game, they played hard and for us we had to come through some of the extra stuff behind the whistles and the hard play the Cougars always show," said Jackson, in his first year as Chiefs head coach. "I'm really proud of our guys of getting through that stuff. This is the first time we've been out of the second round.
"We've had our tests along the way and we just keep finding ways to win hockey games and our second and third periods have been outrageously good and it's starting to become a distant memory since the last time we lost a hockey game. We've got a special group."
The Chiefs finished third in the BCMMHL regular season, going 7-0 to wrap up the season and 18-3-3 in the second half. They knocked off the Greater Vancouver Canadians in a two-game semifinal sweep to advance to the final.
The Cougars, the Mac's midget tournament champions, finished the regular season atop the league (29-8-3) and swept the South Island Royals in their semifinal series.
The Cougars hadn't won the league title since 2008, but have had several cracks at it since.
The championship loss was a tough pill to swallow for Cougars general manager and co-head coach Trevor Sprague.
"Two bad penalties cost us and that's what gave them the first game. They buried their chances," he said outside the Cougars dressing room Saturday.
"We had three disallowed goals and because of them we don't get to host the Pacific Regional championships. In the first game we controlled the first 31 minutes and controlled five-on-five and took the game to them but in the end we have to be the best defensively. We do have a lot to be proud of."
The Chiefs will now host the Pacific Regional Championship on April 3 to 5 where they'll take on the Alberta triple-A midget hockey champion in a best-of-three series. The winner will represent the Pacific region at the 2015 Telus Cup, the national midget championship in Riviere-du-Loop, Que. from April 20-26.
