After 59 minutes and 56.1 seconds of a tight game to decide the provincial midget Tier 1 hockey championship, Marcus Allen finally let out his breath and relaxed.
But up until that point, when defenceman Jarin Sutton scored into an empty Kelowna Rockets' net, Allen was a bundle of nerves protecting the lead Tyson Ghostkeeper had given the Prince George Coast Inn of the North Cougars.
Allen knew his teammates were counting on him to save the day and keep the Cougars slim lead intact and that's precisely what he did. He made 29 saves to help the Cougars beat the Rockets 4-2 and bring home the banner as B.C. champions.
"It was a bit of relief when Tyson scored but not totally because I knew we had time left in the game and we had to stay focused," said Allen, 15, a native of Fort St. James who moved to Prince George over the summer to play on the Tier 1 team.
"Even before (Sutton scored) I was still worried. They had pulled their goalie and they had multiple face-offs in our end but Craig MacDonald was doing a good job winning those draws."
Cougars head coach Ryan Howse said there were no surprises in the final. The Cougars knew they were in a dogfight trying to dethrone the three-time defending champions and that's exactly how it turned out.
"It was what you expected a Kelowna-Prince George game to be like, it was high-intensity and both teams came ready to play," said Howse. "We had the benefit of not playing that day because we came in ranked No. 1, and we had the whole day to prepare, whereas Kelowna had to play that morning and we tried to use that to our advantage."
Ghostkeeper scored two goals in the game, each off deflections. His first opened the scoring with 8.6 seconds left in the second period when he got his stick on Sutton's point shot. Then in the opening minute of the third period, Landon Moleschi accepted a breakaway pass from Cougars captain James Gordon and buried a shot through the legs of Rockets goalie Travis Mayne to make it a 2-0 game.
The Rockets responded with two goals 25 seconds apart from Shay Cyra and Jeremy Hite and the game was deadlocked until Ghostkeeper struck again, delivering the game-winner with 8:17 left to play.
"I was just standing in front of the net and (defenceman) Brevin Gervais shot it and just got a stick on it and it squeaked through the goalie," said Ghostkeeper. "It was pretty nerve-wracking after that."
The Rockets outshot the Cougars 31-28. Howse said his team's history of winning big games this season helped pull them through.
"We had a bit of hiccup when they got two quick ones on us but our kids have been through this six times before (Thursday) night, winning every final, and we knew what we had to do to be successful," said Howse. "Even before we stepped on the ice for that third period we said, we're not losing this game and we kept working and took the game over and buried them.
The Cougars finished atop the standings with a 5-1 record heading into the final. Their only loss at the seven-team tournament was to the Rockets, who beat them 6-4 on Monday. Allen was in net for that game as the Cougars held true to their pattern of alternating their goalies each game, rotating Allen with 16-year-old Jake Sweet.
"I think it was OK for us to lose that game, it just kept us grounded, and we wanted it more in the final because we hated them now," said Allen.
In what was a dream season from start to finish, the Cougars won all seven tournaments they entered this season, including provincials. They captured the Okanagan Mainline Amateur Hockey Association regular season title with a 10-2-3 record.
"We just stuck together through it all and we were all hard workers and it just went our way," said Ghostkeeper, one of eight graduating midgets on the Cougar team. "It was great working with our coaches (Howse, Mac Allen and Justin Fillion), they're all good coaches."
The other members of the Cougar team are Brandon Sande, Jaymes Pattie, Carl Ewert, Braedon Young, Brennan Malgunas, Kyle Boshier, Rob Raju, Dylan Krahn, Garrett Hilton, Mateo Albinati and Logan Morris. While it came as a shock when top-line forwards Darian Long and Devin Sutton moved up to the major midget Cougars in early-January, the Cougars didn't seem to miss a beat .
"Everyone bought into what we were trying to do as coaches at the start of the year," said Howse. "Everyone pulled the rope the same direction. We had a tight-knit group that was there to work and learn and also have a lot of fun on the way. We stuck together like a family."
