A 5-0 weekend, and a tournament championship. The Farr Fabricating Cougars were the class of the field at the Penticton Fall Classic.
The Cougars, the local bantam Tier 1 rep hockey team, defeated host Penticton 4-1 in a Sunday final. The winning goal, in the third period, was provided by Liam Blackburn, who had an open net after a wraparound attempt by teammate Gabe Mason left the puck laying uncovered -- and unspotted -- in the Penticton crease.
"The goalie was to one side so (Blackburn) had half of the net," said Cougars coach Al Loring. "I talked to Liam after and he said he didn't remember hearing a whistle so he just put it in."
Logan Styler, Lucas Ens and Thane Anderson also scored for the Cats. Mitchell Profeit was the winning goaltender.
In the semifinal round, the Cougars outgunned Kent Valley of Washington State 9-7. In that game, Mason fired four goals.
Earlier in the tournament, the Cougars posted a 4-1 win against Penticton, doubled Burnaby 6-3 and defeated Vernon 7-2.
"We've been getting better and better," Loring said. "Our first tournament was Chilliwack. We struggled a little bit there because we had just made our team and hadn't had too many practices. Now we have our team and have some practices under our belt.
"We have high-tempo practices and try to create game situations and then we go 5-0 here," Loring added. "This is the best we've played all season. Coming out with a win in a big tournament like this is good for the kids. They're pretty excited."
The Cougars are off this coming weekend but will be in Abbotsford the following weekend for another tournament.
