They don't have gold-medal expectations. But, that doesn't mean the Prince George midget female Cougars will be letting other teams skate all over them at the 35th annual Mac's AAA Midget Hockey Tournament.
The Cougars are one of 15 teams in the girls division of the world-famous event, which runs from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1 in Calgary. They are also the youngest, so they know they'll be in for a whole bunch of learning.
"I was looking at all the teams that we're going to be playing and most of them are [stocked with] 17-year-old girls, and we only have one 17-year-old. She's our captain and she won't be joining us because of her injury," said Cougars head coach Stewart Malgunas. "We will have 14 15-year-olds, two 16-year-olds and a 14-year-old goalie so we are going to go and try the best we can."
The injured captain of the Cats is Kayla Vilac, who suffered a broken arm a little more than a month ago. The 14-year-old goalie, meanwhile, is Kelowna resident Kali Walls and she actually turned 15 on Saturday. Technically, Walls is too young for the midget age group and is with the Cats because they didn't have a goalie at the start of the season and wouldn't have been able to play without her.
The Mac's schedule was released on Tuesday night and shows the Cougars in a pool with the Highwood Raiders, St. Albert Slash, Fraser Valley Phantom and Saskatoon Stars. The Cats will open against the Alberta-based Raiders on Dec. 26. After a day off, they'll face the Slash, Phantom and Stars Dec. 28 through 30.
The Raiders may be the perfect first-game match-up for the Cougars, who enter the Mac's holding a 5-9-2 record in the B.C. Hockey Female Midget AAA League.
"They're in about third place in their division so you never know," Malgunas said of the Raiders. "If we can squeak that one out and get some confidence, strange things can happen.
"Everyone is excited," Malgunas added. "The Mac's is a prestigious tournament -- as high-profile as you can get at our level."
Cariboo Cats know their foes
The Cariboo Cougars will try to show the boys from the flatlands a thing or two about hockey.
At the Mac's tournament, the Cats will play round-robin games against the Winnipeg Wild (Dec. 27), Calgary Northstars (Dec. 28), Prince Albert Mintos (Dec. 29) and Edmonton South Side Athletic Club Athletics (Dec. 30). In the 25-team boys division, the first-place finisher in each of the five pools will advance to the playoffs. Three teams with the next-best records will also qualify.
The Mac's will be heavy on Western Canada entries this year but will also have an international flavour with the likes of the Alaska Jr. Aces, Carolina Jr. Hurricanes and Pirati Chomutov from the Czech Republic in attendance.
Over the years, the Mac's has attracted several players who went on to become NHL stars, guys like Sidney Crosby, Zach Parise, Jarome Iginla, Mike Modano, Trevor Linden and Wendel Clark.
n The Cougars will hold their annual alumni game on Sunday at CN Centre. The opening face-off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
A few of the alumni players who will participate in the exhibition contest are Dan Gibb of the Prince George Cougars, Josh Connolly of the Kamloops Blazers and Mitch Elliot of the Seattle Thunderbirds.
