Playing with a 4-0 lead in the second period of Sunday's Geotech Drilling midget tier 1 hockey tournament final, the Coast Inn of the North might not have realized it, but they were playing with fire.
Once their fuses were lit the Kelowna Rockets began spewing flames and the Cougars couldn't avoid the backlash. The Rockets owned the puck and it rarely left the Cougars' end of the ice at Kin 2 in the final two periods. The visitors scored in the last minute of the second period, added three more in the third and with 52 seconds left it was all tied up.
Just when it appeared the Rockets were about to complete an amazing comeback, Cougars left winger Austin Gray snagged the puck in the slot after teammates Treavor Gagne and Darren Hards had been denied on a 2-on-1 chance. With 31 seconds left, Gray rifled a high shot in behind goalie Sam Bobyn and the Cougars didn't look back, adding an empty-netter from Hards in a 6-4 victory.
"It came off of one of their players' sticks and it was there in a sweet spot for me and I found a hole," said Gray. "This was probably the toughest game we've played all year. Our goalie [Jamie Ferguson] definitely kept us in it, he's a big part of this win. It's huge to win off of Kelowna, our biggest rival."
Breathing a huge sigh of relief was Cougars captain Thane Anderson, who scored his team's third and fourth goals and set up Justin Schwing's opener just 39 seconds into the game.
"I was worried that last 10 minutes there, they scored to make it 4-3 and then they banked that one in off Ferguson and I honestly was worried we weren't going to win if it got to overtime," said Anderson. "Then Gagne and Hards had that 2-on-1 and Hards made a nice backhand pass out into the slot and Austin Gray puts one top shelf. I don't think I've ever been so happy."
Tristan LeBrun had given the Rockets hope with a shorthanded late in the second and the Okanagan boys kept coming. Ben Hanley scored on Ferguson from just outside the crease at 9:58 of the third and Zach Erhardt knocked a rebound into an open net at the 15:40 mark. The Rockets got Bobyn to the bench and with six skaters Jordan Harding-Bautista led the rush down the right wing. Ferguson stopped the low shot but the rebound came back to Harding-Bautista, who took the puck behind the net and banged it in off Ferguson's leg.
To the surprise of everyone in the building, the Cougars had an answer for that and it gave them their 14th straight victory and fourth tournament win in four tries this season as they ran their season record to 25-2-1. Kelowna has lost six of its seven games against Prince George but they've all been close.
"it was a tough loss, we gave it all we had but sometimes it doesn't go your way," said Rockets captain Brandon Barnes. "We hit three crossbars in the third period and did all we could. We've had a rivalry with them for three years now and it's getting pretty big. It gets pretty heated between us two."
The pace was fast and hard-hitting from the start and Schwing got tossed out of the game in the second period for a hit from behind on Rockets defenceman Cole Williams. Rockets forward Braden Eliuk was banished late in the second for an illegal hit on Nathan Powar.
The L J Contracting tier 2 Cougars went 0-4-1 in the tournament, a quite respectable showing considering they only found out Thursday night they'd be playing on the weekend, taking the place of the Fort St. John Trackers who canceled due to a snowstorm that closed the highway. The tier 2 Cats tied Surrey in their opener then lost to Kelowna, Richmond, Okanagan Hockey Academy and Semiahmoo.
"We planned to have the weekend off after our home tournament weekend but I didn't hesitate when we got the call' said tier 2 Cougars coach Randy Potskin. "The boys got challenged to the next level and they responded well. We didn't win a game but got a tie and a couple close games and I think as a team it will make us better."
