For the first time in program history, the Northland Dodge Cougars will skate in home playoff games.
The Cougars, a regional rep team that competes in the B.C. Hockey Female Midget AAA League, clinched second place in the standings when they won three games and tied another in Kelowna on the weekend. The top two clubs in the six-team league get first-round playoff byes and will serve as hosts in the second round.
"This means a lot because the team has been in the league for six years and the most it has ever won is six games," said Cougars head coach Mario Desjardins. "We've just about tripled that this year with three games remaining so that's pretty exciting in itself -- to really have a lot of success with a team that, honestly, is the youngest team in the league."
The 15- to 17-year-old Cougars have a 16-5-6 record and trail only the Fraser Valley Phantom, which sits at 18-1-7 and is one of the top teams in Western Canada.
Last weekend in Kelowna, the Cats needed a win and a tie to lock up second place but did much better than that. They beat the Vancouver Island Hurricanes 4-0, edged the Thompson-Okanagan Rockets 2-1, battled the Phantom to a 1-1 tie (a game they led until the late stages of the third period) and downed the West Coast Avalanche 3-2.
"The team went in with some confidence, really building off of previous practices and stuff, and really dominated three of the four games," Desjardins said. "Even though the scores were fairly close, the shots were fairly lopsided."
The Cougars have been on a serious roll ever since they returned from the prestigious Mac's tournament, held in Calgary during the Christmas break. From then until now, they have posted a near-spotless 9-1-1 record.
"The first half of the season, we struggled scoring goals," Desjardins said. "Finally, during the Mac's tournament, the pucks started to go in for us. Even though we didn't have a lot of success as far as wins go in the Mac's tournament [0-4 record], I think it was a huge character-building tournament for our team. We came back with some new confidence... and the puck continued to go in for us. The biggest thing is, the players really stuck to the program and good things started to happen."
Offensively, the Cougars have four players in double digits for point production -- Madison Fjellstrom (11 goals, nine assists, 20 points), Sage Desjardins (2-16-18), Ava Keis (8-8-16) and Tessa Hare (11-4-15).
"Every game, it seems like if one line isn't going, another line is going and contributing," Mario Desjardins said.
Defensively, the team relies on Grace Barlow, Chantelle Beadman-Rolph, Cassidy Bell, Victoria Byer and Jayden Malgunas. Also on defence, Alyssa Young played the first 12 games but then suffered a season-ending knee injury.
"Our defence is solid -- a good group of girls that are highly-talented," coach Desjardins said. "They contribute offensively and, more importantly, defensively. We're giving up an average of maybe 18 shots a game."
In goal, the Cats are blessed with two skilled stoppers, 16-year-old Avery Quiring and 15-year-old Kelsey Roberts.
"They are two of the top goaltenders in the league right now, so that helps," Mario Desjardins said.
Other members of the Cougars are Taylor Beck, Jocelyn Forrest, Kyrsten Franz, Megan Hickey, Sydney Jordan, Hunter Mosher, Marissa Nichol and Lauren Smaha-Muir. Many of the players have been enrolled in a hockey program at Prince George secondary school this season and that has benefited them greatly, Mario Desjardins said.
The Cougars -- including assistant coach Stewart Malgunas and manager Scott Forrest -- will finish their regular schedule this weekend in Nelson, where they will take on the Kootenay Wildcats in a three-game set.
In the second round of playoffs -- the semifinals -- the Phantom will face the lowest-remaining seed and the Cats will meet the other first-round survivor. The series is scheduled for March 21-23 and coach Desjardins is hoping the games will be played in the brand new Kin 1 arena.
"We've requested to play in Kin 1," he said. "We want to not only play in a beautiful facility but showcase it and have a big crowd show up. We're really hoping the City lets us play in Kin 1."
