Jake LeBrun had three points and the Cariboo Cougars kept themselves in the mix for the playoffs at the 2011 Mac's Midget tournament in Calgary with a 7-2 win over the Fort Saskatchewan BP Rangers.
Cougars' coach Trevor Sprague said the team has played well in both their games at the tournament and they were rewarded.
"The boys played well and deserved to win," said Sprague. "We held the Rangers to about eight shots in the first two periods."
The Cougars never trailed in Wednesday's game at Father David Bauer Arena, holding a 2-0 advantage after the first period and extending it to 6-0 with four goals in the middle frame. In addition to LeBrun's back-to-back goals Hayden-James Berra and Chase Astorino also found the twine behind the Rangers' goaltender Troy Trombley in the second period.
Sprague said the Cougars controlled the play through the neutral zone with their speed.
David Readman made 20 saves in the win, while Nathan Craft with a pair and Brett Roulston had the other goals for the Cougars. Craft and Roulston scored seven seconds apart midway through the first period to give the Cougars a lead they would never relinquish, despite piling up 30 minutes in penalties.
The Cougars were able to withstand a four-minute penalty kill when Craft was in the sin bin for a hit to the head and a two-minute minor to Tyler Povelofskie for checking from behind in the opening period. Povelofskie also received a game misconduct.
"It's something we've got to manage better," said Sprague about staying out of the penalty box.
Rangers' captain Trevor Poirier and Josh Sinatynski broke Readman's shut out bid.
With three losses the Alberta Midget Hockey League Rangers (0-3) have put themselves out of playoff contention. The top two teams in each of the five pools qualify for the playoff round, along with two wild-card teams.
The win leaves the Cougars in third place in Pool 4 with a 1-1 record behind the Calgary Northstars (2-0) and Pirati Chomutov (2-0) of the Czech Republic with their next game against the Tisdale Trojans (0-1) today at 7 p.m. (PST).
