The Northern Capitals grabbed gold in the female division of the Mac's AAA Midget Hockey Tournament and the Cariboo Cougars were semifinalists in the male division. At the same time, the Coast Inn of the North midget Tier 1 Cougars claimed a championship in the major-midget group at the Richmond International.
Prince George-based clubs enjoyed an extremely successful hockey holiday, something not lost on Northern Capitals head coach Mario Desjardins and Coast Inn bench boss Ryan Howse.
"We were at the semifinal game for the Cariboo Cougars and were cheering for them to get through to the finals," Desjardins said. "It was special for us to get through, and for them to have gotten through and to see two Prince George teams in the Mac's finals would have been something that had never been done before. They (the Cariboo Cougars) gave it everything they had. They were up against a tough team in Lloydminster and it was too bad they couldn't make it through (after a 5-2 loss) but just for them to get to the semifinals - I know that team is rebuilding right now - it was an excellent feat for them to get to the semifinals and have that opportunity.
"And then to hear that our Tier 1 boys won the major-midget tournament in Richmond, I couldn't believe it," Desjardins added. "It was quite the weekend of hockey for Prince George. To have those teams have that much success for Prince George is just amazing."
The Cariboo Cougars - Mac's champions last year - finished this year's tournament with an overall record of 4-2, their only two losses coming at the hands of Lloydminster.
As for the Coast Inn Cats, they put together a 5-2 record in Richmond, including a 3-0 win against the Okanagan Hockey Academy in the final. For the club's success in Richmond and its stellar season overall, Howse gives partial credit to a working partnership with the major-midget Cariboo club and head coach Trevor Sprague.
"Cariboo has had such success over the past couple years and I think we feed off of that," said Howse, whose team has won five consecutive tournaments and boasts a record of 36-4-3. "And I know working with Trevor has been great this year. He's given me feedback and has kind of mentored me and helped me. So working with him and transitioning that to our team is kind of neat. Both teams are getting success out of this and building. (The Cariboo Cougars host) the Telus Cup (national championship) next year so these (Tier 1) kids, I'm sure they want to have a good year this year and then try and make (Sprague's) team next year."
All three midget teams, not coincidentally, have a significant number of players enrolled in a high-performance hockey program at Prince George secondary school. Thirteen players from the Northern Capitals are in the program, while every single Cariboo Cougar is involved and so are 16 members of the Coast Inn Cats. The program is led by PGSS teacher Renzo Berra.
