The Integris Credit Union Cougars were on the limp. As a result, they didn't get the home-ice results they were chasing.
The Cougars, Prince George's bantam Tier 2 minor hockey rep team, skated to a 0-3-2 record and finished last out of eight teams at the Home Hardware/Hart Drug Mart tournament, held Friday through Sunday at the Kin Centre. The Cats were missing three key players because of injuries -- defencemen Jared Stevens (knee) and Brandon Sande (concussion) and forward Curtis Carlick (knee) -- and had two other skaters just back from sick bay, Garrett Hilton and Ben Paul.
"We were good hosts," Cougars head coach Wes Scott said with a chuckle. "The games were all really competitive. The reality is, we're banged up, we're getting healthy. There are lots of excuses but we could have won every last game.
"It was just one of those weekends that, everything we did, we'd get a bad bounce or whatever the case may be. They [the players] just have to keep moving forward."
The 13- and 14-year-old Cougars started the event with a 3-3 tie against Smithers. They followed up with a 2-1 loss to Fort St. John, a 3-3 draw with Dawson Creek, a 4-2 loss to Fairview and a 6-5 setback against Dawson Creek.
In the Prince George-Fairview game, a crossover playoff contest on Saturday, the last goal for Fairview was into an empty net. Scott said that outing was his club's best performance.
"It was probably the best game we've been involved in all year," he said. "Fairview didn't win our tournament but they might be the best team we've seen all year. [The game] was fast, it was hard-hitting, there was great goaltending. It was an exceptional game."
Prince George goalie Nick Bernier made some stellar stops against Fairview and was also brilliant in the Fort St. John game, played on Friday night.
"They [Fort St. John] have a bunch of kids that played on the Tier 2 provincial champions last year and they outshot us 46-24," Scott said. "Nick maybe played the best game of his life against Fort St. John. He was phenomenal. He had a really good weekend, in the two games he played."
Sunday's championship final featured two high-calibre Tier 3 squads, Quesnel and Terrace. At the final buzzer, Quesnel celebrated a 4-3 victory.
"They are by far the two top teams in the province in Tier 3 and they probably would be very competitive in Tier 2," Scott said. "They are both extremely strong, and we've beaten them both [this season]."
The Cougars play their regular-season games in the Cariboo Amateur Hockey Association and have already wrapped up the bantam Tier 2 title. In the playoffs, slated for the last weekend of February, they will face Williams Lake and will have home-ice advantage in a best-of-three series.
The bantam Tier 2 provincial championship tournament will be on the ice March 18-23 in Rossland and Trail.
