For the first time in six months the Prince George triple-A midget female Cougars will have an opportunity to show their teeth to real competition this weekend in Nelson.
Jason Garneau, head coach of the B.C. Major Midget Female Hockey League's Cougars, said the four games the girls will play in Nelson to begin the league's fifth season is the first game action for most of the team since their semifinal playoff loss to the Thompson-Okanagan Rockets on March 20.
"We're the only female team north of Kelowna so it's hard for us to find anybody to play in exhibition," said Garneau. "We try to have a game intensity in our practices. We'll be fine."
The tradition the female hockey league began in the 2008-09 season of playing "Super League" weekend series, where all five teams meet in one location each month, will continue this year.
The Cougars play the Vancouver Fusion at the Nelson Civic Centre tonight at 5:30 p.m., before playing a pair of games Saturday - the Fraser Valley Phantom at 7:30 a.m. and the Rockets at 3:15 p.m. Prince George wraps up the weekend Sunday morning against the Kootenay Wildcats at 9:30.
Garneau said the Cougars turned some heads last season when they pushed the Rockets to three games, dropping a 3-1 contest before battling to a 4-3 win to force a tiebreaker. The Rockets won 2-1 in the deciding game.
"We were a little bit unlucky not to beat them, but we really opened some eyes," said Garneau. "We're looking on carrying on from that."
The Rockets are the defending B.C. champions, but lost in straight games in the best-of-three crossover series with the Alberta representative, Edmonton Thunder.
The Cougars have a good mix of returning players and newcomers this season, but have a key spot to fill in net, having graduated Megan Spooner. The 18-year-old goaltender is manning the net for Mount Royal University in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference these days.
"Last year, one of our strengths was Megan Spooner, who is a phenomenal goalie," said Garneau. "This year we'll need to have our older girls step up and score some goals and play solid defence for us and we'll be fine."
Stephanie Bernier backed up Spooner last season and is back between the pipes, while Jocelyn Wynnyk has moved to Prince George from Whitehorse.
"We've been kind of in a little bit of a panic looking for a goalie," said Garneau about finding Wynnyk. "We kind of got lucky."
Robin Murphy, the Cougars' leading scorer last season with 12 goals and 25 points in 28 games, has graduated from the midget league, but Taya Garneau, the team's second-leading scorer with 21 points, including six goals, will be back.
The third-year coach said Garneau, Kyanna Prazma and Kelly Williams will be looked upon to provide leadership and scoring.
"They're good players for us and we've got some good younger girls coming up as well," he said. "I'm excited to get going."
