If there's a team that's well-rested going into its playoff run, it would probably be the Northland Dodge Cougars.
Thanks to their first-place finish in the B.C. Female triple-A midget league with a 25-3-2 record, the Cougars received a first-round bye in the playoffs last weekend.
Today at 10:15 a.m., they hit the ice at Kin 1 in the second-round in Game 1 of a best-of-three semifinal series where they'll face off against the Thompson-Okanagan Lakers.
The Lakers, who finished fourth with a 12-13-5 regular-season record, defeated the Vancouver Island Hurricanes 2-1 in their best-of-three quarter-final series last weekend.
"It should be a good match, they're well-coached, the team has no quit and has decent goaltending," said Cougars head coach Mario Desjardins.
"Our girls will respond and we've been waiting to get to this point all season. We're excited."
Due to the 2015 Canada Winter Games last month where ice time was unavailable, the Cougars haven't practiced together for three-and-a-half weeks since the regular season ended.
That is until last weekend when Banff Hockey Academy's women's varsity team, an under-18 development squad, traveled to Prince George for a three-game exhibition series.
The Cougars won all three games (3-0, 3-2, 1-0), which provided a chance to shake the rust off.
"They play a similar style to us and it was good to test ourselves the way we did," said Desjardins. "It all worked out well."
The Cougars had six of the top 10 scorers in the league this season, led by Ava Keis who notched 20 goals and 24 assists. Sage Desjardins was next with 16 goals and 26 assists and Marissa Nichol was third overall with 13 goals and 21 assists.
Game 2 of the series with the Lakers is at 4:30 p.m. today and Game 3, if necessary is Sunday at 11:45 a.m.
