An old nemesis haunted the Cariboo Cougars once again on the weekend.
The Cougars (14-7-3) dropped two hockey games to the visiting Vancouver NW Giants (15-3-5) at Kin 1, falling four points behind them in the battle for first place in the B.C. Major Midget League. Saturday the Cougars fell 1-0 and then dropped a 5-1 decision Sunday.
"We have to come hard right off the gates," said Cougars' defenceman Colton Manning. "They play well defensively and once you get down by a few goals it's hard to catch back up."
In addition to falling four points behind the Giants, the team that knocked the Cougars out of the provincial playoffs last spring, Cariboo now sits third behind the Vancouver NE Chiefs.
"These kind of points are huge," said the third-year Cougar. "Now we're down. These kind of games matter in the end in order to get home-ice advantage at the end of the year."
The Cougars trailed 3-0 until Hayden James Berra tipped Mannings' point shot past Giants' goaltender Liam Smith with 14 minutes to play in the final period.
"We needed to get more shots through," said Manning. "The one I got through got in so I was fortunate for that, but I had a nice tip."
Bryan MacLean, assistant coach of the Cougars, said the players worked harder in Saturday's 1-0 loss, but couldn't beat Giants' goalie Braden Krogfoss, spoiling a solid performance from Nathan Warren in the Cariboo net. Eric Margo was the only Giants' player to beat Warren.
The Giants play a defensive-style game when they get a lead, clogging up the neutral zone and making it difficult for opposition players to carry the puck.
"We weren't consistent shift in and shift out," said MacLean. "We've got to work harder with the puck and away from the puck and put some pressure on their defencemen."
David Readman played in net for the Cougars on Sunday after missing two weeks with a concussion, while forward Jake Lebrun (shoulder) missed the weekend games and defenceman Josh Connolly (concussion) is still recovering after taking a couple hits during the Cougars' opening weekend.
Christmas bus trip
After opening their presents and stuffing themselves with breakfast the Cougars will hop on a bus Christmas morning heading to Calgary and the annual Mac's Major Midget tournament.
The Cougars open the round-robin against the Czech Club KMH Chomutov team.
"It'll be really cool for the kids to play an international team," said MacLean.
It's the fifth consecutive year the Cougars will play in the Dec. 26 to Jan. 1 tournament.
After their Dec. 26 game with the Czechs the Cougars have an off day before playing the Fort Saskatchewan BP Rangers. On Dec. 29, the Tisdale Trojans are the Cougars opponent and they finish pool play against the Calgary Northstars on Dec. 30.
The top two teams in each pool qualify for the playoffs.
"We've never won, but have made the playoffs a few times," said MacLean. "That's the expectation to get into the playoff round. It's not an easy tournament to win at all."
The bus leaves the Kin Centre at 10 a.m.
BCMML action
The Cougars return to regular season action Jan. 7 and 8 when they host the Valley West Hawks at Kin 1.
