For the second year in a row, the Cariboo Cougars were forced to watch the victory celebration of the Vancouver Northwest Giants.
In the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League playoff championship series, held on the weekend in Burnaby, the Giants eliminated the Cougars in the minimum two games. After a 4-3 victory on Friday night, the G-men came out on Saturday, determined to claim the B.C. banner and did just that after a 6-2 win.
Last season, the Giants also swept the Cougars out of the final series. They won the first game 6-2 and broke the hearts of the Cats with a 5-4 triple overtime victory the next day.
For the Cougars, the results this time around hurt just as much.
"There's no easy way of swallowing second place," said Cougars assistant coach James Morrison. "You lose to the same team and it doesn't get easier. The guys fought. They fought all season long and we had our ups and our downs. No matter how you spin it, we're still in second but we're very proud of every single guy on the team."
In both games, the Giants used their potent power play to squash the Cougars. All four Friday goals were power-play markers, and, on Saturday, four of the six came while they were up a man.
"They're a team that, if you're in the box, you're in trouble," Morrison said. "Unfortunately we made a few too many mistakes on the ice that cost us by getting ourselves in the penalty box and [the Giants] capitalized."
Chase Witala, Luke Gordon and Tyson Witala scored the Friday goals for the Cats. On Saturday, Tanner Fjellstrom -- on a penalty shot -- and Nathan Craft gave the Cariboo club its offence. In that game, the Cats trailed just 2-1 half way through but then took a couple penalties and were quickly down 4-1. They never recovered.
The Giants (29-4-7) and Cougars (28-11-1) were also the top two teams during the regular season. The Giants will now skate against the Alberta champion in a three-game Pacific regional series, with a spot in the Telus Cup national championship on the line. The Telus Cup is April 18-24 in St. John's, Nfld.
