The Coast Inn of the North Cougars turned frustration into fuel.
Prior to the midget Tier 1 provincial championship tournament in Kelowna, the Cougars were ranked last out of six teams. Based on their season accomplishments, they saw their seeding as disrespectful and used it as motivation to skate to an unbeaten record and a B.C. banner.
"We had all the teams' logos in our dressing room and after every game we taped the game puck over the logo, signifying 'first team down, second team down,'" said Chris Bond, head coach of the local minor hockey rep squad. "That was a big motivation for all the boys. They bought in and everything came together at the right time."
The 15- to 17-year-old Cougars won all six games they played at provincials, including a 6-0 victory against Kamloops in Wednesday's championship game. In the final, the Cats jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and were ahead 4-0 by the end of the second period. They scored their fifth goal early in the third and spent most of the remaining time on the power play because the Kamloops players kept losing their cool.
Cougars captain Dryden Profeit, now a graduate of the midget ranks, won't soon forget those final five minutes.
"A couple of us, including myself, were in tears at the end," said the 17-year-old defenceman. "We wanted it so bad. It didn't really feel like an actual provincial final game until the final five minutes when we kind of knew we had it locked up. It just hit us hard.
"This championship title is the first for Bond in nine years of coaching and the first for Profeit as well. At last year's midget provincials, the Coast Inn team struggled to a 1-4 record.
About half of the players from 2010-11 were back in uniform this year. The Cats won their season-opening tournament, went through some tough times in the middle of their schedule and then hit their stride in January. Including provincials, they finished the year on a 21-game unbeaten streak. Overall, they posted a record of 31-14-8.
At the B.C. tournament, the Cougars also defeated Richmond (6-3), Abbotsford (3-2), Kamloops (5-3), Cowichan Valley (5-3) and Kelowna (4-1) and didn't trail any of their opponents for a single second.
Spectacular play on special teams was a big part of Coast Inn's provincial title. The Cats went 12-for-44 on their power play and killed off 22 of 24 penalties. Both goaltenders, Mitch Profeit and Kris Joyce, were also rock-solid. Offensively, Liam Blackburn and Matt Warner led the Cougars with 15 points and 12 points respectively.
"Liam is really dynamic on the power play," Bond said. "He really understands where we want to get the puck for scoring chances and he's slippery all over the ice. And Matt was probably the best skater in the tournament. The defencemen just couldn't contain him. He just drove the puck wide, took it to the net and drew a lot of penalties. And when he wasn't drawing penalties he was getting to the net with the puck and putting it in good spots."
Other team members are Scott Cullen, Stephen Penner, Duncan Elliot, Nicholas Headrick, Zach Schlitt, Derek Bulmer, Corey Faucher, Regan Young, Kirk Hards, Daylen Ouellette, Michael Bhatoa, Braiden Epp, Riley Hawes and Justin Schwing. Brian Hards and Mike Matthies are the assistant coaches and Marcel Profeit is the manager.
