The Coast Inn of the North Cougars tier one midget hockey team is making its mark this season, particularly in tournament play where they've come away with gold and silver medals from Kamloops and Kelowna respectively.
The second place finish in Kelowna during the first weekend of November was a bit of a climb down for the players, said team manager Marcel Profeit, and they hope to gain a second gold when they host their own tournament Nov. 25-27 at the Kin arenas.
"Typical hockey players, they took their silver medals and not too many put them around their necks," Profeit said. "They weren't very happy losing the final game but it's all a learning experience."
The Cougars played five games in Kelowna, opening with a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Royals but bouncing back to edge the Kamloops Blazers 2-1 and the Ridge Meadow Rustlers 6-2 to finish first in their pool.
They followed up with a 7-5 win over the Seafair Islanders but lost the final 9-2 to the Kelowna Jr. Rockets as illness and injuries caught up with the team, Profeit said. It was also the fifth game they had played in 45 hours.
The Cougars took top spot in Kamloops during the Thanksgiving long weekend.
The Rockets will be among the six teams playing in the Prince George tournament. Pursuit of Excellence, an academy team from Kelowna, as well as teams from South Delta, Vancouver and Williams Lake will also be playing.
In league play - the Cougars play in the Okanagan minor hockey association - they sit at two wins and three losses and hope to improve to 5-3 by the end of three games this weekend.
"For some reason, we haven't been as good in league play as we have been in tournament play and we're trying to figure that out as a staff," Profeit said.
After Prince George, they have one more tournament, the Richmond International over the Christmas break and then finish up league games in January and February and then the provincial tournament in Kelowna during the spring break.
The Cougars have a free pass to the provincials, which can be a mixed blessing.
"With us being the only tier one team in our zone, we don't have to go through a playoff to make it to provincials," Profeit said. "A lot of the teams from the Okanagan and the Lower Mainland, they've done six weeks or two months of playoff rounds and they're kind of battle ready.
"So we use the tournaments to build towards the provincials."
All but three of the 19 players are ages 15 to 16, while the remainder are 17 years old. Two of them - forward Matt Warner and defenceman Stephen Penner - have also seen time with the Cariboo Cougars in B.C. Major Midget League play.
Other team members are goalies Mitchell Profeit and Kris Joyce, defencemen Scott Cullen, Duncan Elliott, Dryden Profeit, Nick Headrick and Zach Schlitt and forwards Derek Bulmer, Corey Faucher, Regan Young, Kirk Hards, Daylon Ouellette, Michael Bhatoa, Liam Blackburn, Braiden Epp, Riley Hawes and Justin Schwing and Chris Bond is their coach.
