Darren Hards went to bed Saturday night thinking he had a day off as a hockey sniper.
But when the Cariboo Cougars found out they needed someone to replace forward Chase DuBois, who was too sick to play the Thompson Blazers, Hards was on top of the list of potential replacements.
With 84 points in 49 games as the leading pointgetter of the Coast Inn of the North midget tier 1 team, it didn't take long for Hards to show he can also score in the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League. The 15-year-old centre followed through on a wraparound from behind the Blazers' net to break a 2-2 deadlock 7:54 into the second period and the Cats cruised to a 6-3 win at CN Centre to complete a two-game sweep of the Blazers.
"It's fun playing with players at a higher skill level, there's more intensity, they were good to play with," said Hards, whose oldest brother Kirk played for the major midget Cougars last season. "It was good to get the goal, the goalie [Bailey De Palma] just couldn't get over fast enough."
Twelve Cougars got their names on Sunday's scoresheet, with Steven Jandric scoring two goals and Hards, Isaiah Berra, Mitchell Williams and Riley Pettitt contributing singles. Josh Pilon, Gordon Keaton and Jacob Faraday scored for the Blazers.
Also called up from the tier 1 team on the weekend was defenceman Cole Slaney, paired with veteran Scott Cullen to fill in for the injured Jared Stevens, who was out with a concussion. As good as the Cougars were at generating offence against the Blazers, the defence was airtight, rarely allowing any sustained pressure. Concerted efforts to cut down the goals against have allowed the Cougars to win three of their four games in January.
"It was a tough start to the season, lots of guys coming and going, and we had a tough time coming together as a team," said Cougars captain Scott Cullen, who was paired with Slaney on Sunday. "But I think around the Mac's tournament at Christmas we started gelling and our game's going uphill, which is good to see."
Jeremy Matte picked up his second win of the weekend in the Cougars nets, making 20 saves. Matte was rarely tested in the first two periods Saturday as the Cougars allowed just four shots through 40 minutes, but the visitors finished with a flurry, scoring two goals on 15 shots in the third period.
Berra, with two goals and an assist, led the way for Cariboo on Saturday, with Cullen, DuBois, Jandric, Thomas Webster, Greg Dakus, and Jesse Roach also scoring. Keaton, Nii Noi Tettah and Zander Buchanon answered for the Blazers.
The wins left the Cougars (13-15-2) sixth in the standings. The Blazers (4-20-6) remained 10th in the 11-team league. The Cougars want to avoid dropping into seventh or eighth place, which would mean a likely first-round playoff encounter with the Okanagan Rockets or the Vancouver Northwest Giants, who are fighting each other for first place.
"It was nice to score some goals and those four points are huge for us in the standings," said Cougars head coach Bryan MacLean. "We've got 10 more games to make a climb and if we can get up to fourth we can be on home ice for the first round."
Next up for the Cougars is a trip this weekend to Cranbrook to play the last-place Kootenay Ice.
