Twenty-five wins, three losses and two ties.
The Prince George Northland Dodge Cougars put the cap on a record-setting season Sunday in Langley, establishing the high-water mark for wins in the eight-year-old B.C. Female Midget Triple-A Midget Hockey League.
The Cougars skated to a 2-2 tie with the Fraser Valley Phantom Sunday morning, coming on the heels of a 1-1 tie Saturday night and a 3-2 win over the Phantom earlier Saturday.
That marked the end of the regular season for the first-place Cougars, who earned a first-round playoff bye and will now await their playoff opponents in a series which begins March 13 at Kin 1.
Sydney Jordan was a late-game hero for the Cougars Sunday, scoring the equalizer with three minutes left and Cougars goalie Emily Nichols on the bench. The Cougars won the draw in the Phantom end and Jordan buried the pass from Sage Desjardins, who had tied the game in the second period on a power play. Mandy Pollock and Mikayla Ogrodniczuk scored for the Phantom.
The Cougars outshot the Phantom 31-15.
In the opener Saturday, the Cougars scored three power-play goals in the second period, including the eventual winner from Hunter Mosher. Victoria Byer and Ava Keis also found the Phantom net. Pollock gave Fraser Valley the early lead on a 5-on-3 power play in the first period and caught the Cougars on a bad line change to score again early in the third period. The Cougars' penalty-killers were kept busy, forced to kill off three minors in the third period. Nichols allowed two goals on 24 shots.
Marissa Nichol and Pollock were the goalscorers in the 1-1 tie.
"It was a good weekend, the Phantom have definitely improved and they played us tight all weekend," said Cougars head coach Mario Desjardins. "It's good to get the good competition and our girls played well. We took a lot of penalties and that gave them the opportunity to work on the penalty kill. Everyone got a chance to play."
The third-place Phantom (14-12-4) had a lot more at stake in the final three games. Fraser Valley started the weekend just one point ahead of the fourth-place Thompson-Okanagan Lakers. The Cougars wrapped up first place when they swept the Kootenay Wildcats three weekends ago.
The top two teams -- the Cougars and second-place West Coast Avalanche -- earned playoff byes into the second round. With a month to wait between games, the Cougars will host a three-game exhibition series March 6-8 against Banff Academy.
"It's been a good season, kind of what we expected," said coach Desjardins. "Now that season is over with, a brand-new season starts and we won't forget about what happened to us last year."
All but two of the current Cougars played with the team that was eliminated in the first round of playoffs last year by Thompson-Okanagan in a three-game series.
