A 2-1 victory against an upper-echelon team was a hard-earned and welcome result. The 6-1 loss that followed was nowhere near as satisfying.
For the Cariboo Cougars, the lesson to be learned was simple: cutting corners is no way to find success, especially against a top-quality opponent.
The Cougars, who compete in the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League, picked up their win Saturday night at Kin 1 against the Okanagan Rockets. The lopsided loss happened the next morning at the same rink.
"We stuck to our game plan for the most part on Saturday and executed it well, and (goaltender) Dorrin (Luding) played very well," said Cougars head coach Trevor Sprague. "Sunday, too much individual (play), no attention to detail in the defensive zone."
With the split of the four available points, the Cougars and Rockets have both accumulated 25 on the season. By virtue of one extra win, however, the Rockets (12-7-1) are now in third place in the 11-team league and the Cougars (11-6-3) sit fourth.
In Saturday's game, the teams were tied 1-1 in the second period. With about six-and-a-half minutes left to play in the middle frame, Daine DuBois of the Cougars scored what proved to be the winning goal on a pretty deke at the top of the crease.
Mason Richey had a first-period marker for the Cats and Alec Zawatsky responded for the Rockets half way through the second period.
In Sunday's rematch, the Rockets were a little more energized and built up a 3-0 lead after two periods. Three more goals in the third - and only one for the Cougars (by DuBois on a late power play) - produced the final result. In the game, the Rockets connected twice with the man-advantage and once shorthanded. The Cougars, meanwhile, managed just the one power-play marker in nine chances.
"I wasn't overly happy about that," Sprague said. "And our penalty-kill wasn't very good. We saw things weren't going the way they needed to go and gave some other guys some opportunities who don't usually get put into the power-play or PK situations and that didn't work for us either.
"All around, it was one of those games where we just didn't show up and play the Cariboo Cougar way. (The Rockets') best players outperformed our best players. When you have that happening and they make the right decisions to score and we don't, it's kind of tough to win a hockey game, especially when you're not looking after the 200-foot game."
The Rockets got their Sunday goals from Lucas Cullen (2), Chase Stevenson, Matt Kowalski, Eli Zummack and Hayden Dick.
DuBois, a 16-year-old from Williams Lake, was among the brightest lights for the Cougars in the two-game set.
"We gave him a lot more ice time and he played with a lot of confidence," Sprague said. "That was great to see."
DuBois was skating on a line with 16-year-old Trey Thomas and the 15-year-old Richey.
"They were our best line the whole weekend," Sprague said. "I thought that they contributed really well as a young group. I was happy with them."
Chase DuBois, a 17-year-old forward who leads the Cougars in scoring with 10 goals and 23 points in 18 games, was a healthy scratch for both games against the Rockets, as was 15-year-old forward Reid Perepeluk.
"You can call it the Sprague flu," the coach said. "I think they got their medication for the Sprague flu so they should be back at it this weekend."
The Cougars will host the Thompson Blazers Saturday (7:15 p.m.) and Sunday (9:15 a.m.) at Kin 1. The Blazers are currently ninth in the standings with a 2-14-4 record.
