It was a bronze-medal finish for the Prince George WIC Bantam Female Cougars at their annual tier 1 invitational last weekend held at the Kin Arenas.
The Cougars (20-3-3) had lost only one game all season heading into the tournament, but fell twice - to the Terrace Kermode 4-1 during pool play and the Lloydminster Europump Icecats 3-2 in the crossover, which put them into the bronze-medal game with the Kelowna Springfield Autobody Jr. Rockets, which they won 3-0.
Don Knoop, coach of the Cougars, said the girls did a good job considering all the distractions that come with playing at home from family in the stands to different meal and bed times to having to help organize the event.
"Home tournaments are very distracting for players," said Knoop. "The girls learned how important it is to keep focused on team goals and game plans, as a result the game against Kelowna was a success."
In the win over the Jr. Rockets Sunday Prince George goaltender Avery Quiring posted the shutout and Madison Fjellstrom had two goals. It was the first game between the two squads not ending in a tie this season.
"The girls played a very strong team game and the result was very satisfying," said Knoop.
Against the Kermode, Knoop said, he structured a game plan to deal with a very strong goaltender.
"The games against Terrace are difficult," said Knoop. "We have a game plan to try and score on their goalie, Kelsey Roberts, who is very good. Unfortunately we didn't get things going until the last seven minutes of the game, which ended up being too late. But games like that are good in that we can learn from them."
The Icecats returned to Alberta with the gold medal after a dominating 5-1 win over the Kermode.
Prince George opened the tournament Friday with an 11-0 win over Williams Lake Panthers, before their loss to Terrace. The Cougars finished the round-robin at 2-1 Saturday after blanking 100 Mile House Thrashers 4-0.
Fjellstrom led the Cougars in their 11-0 win with four goals and an assist, while Carla Goodwin had a goal and five helpers.
The Cougars head to 100 Mile House for a pair of Cariboo League games Saturday and Sunday followed by a trip to Kelowna for a pair of OMAHA exhibition games Dec. 17 and 18 versus the midget tier 1 Jr. Rockets and bantam tier 1 Jr. Rockets.
