The Prince George Farr Fabricating Cougars figured wins at the bantam Tier 1 provincial championships would be hard to come by and so far their prognostications have proved correct.
Heading into Wednesday's late game at Kin 1 against the Kamloops Jardine Blazers the Cougars (0-3-0) were still looking for their first point in four tournament games and they were in tough against the Blazers (2-1-0), who were fighting to keep their championship hopes alive.
The host Cougars won't be playing North Shore for the title tonight at 8 p.m. but none of their first three losses against the province's best teams have been blowouts. They have a chance to end on a winning note today at 2 p.m. in their final game when they take on the Kelowna Junior Rockets.
"We've had two really good games, we lost 2-1 in our first game against Burnaby Winter Club, the second-ranked team in the province right now, and that was a pretty good showing for our boys," said Cougars manager Shawn Long.
"[Tuesday night] we played North Shore Winter Club, the No. 1-ranked team, and only lost 5-0. The last time we played them, in Chilliwack, they scored their first goal on us in seven and it was 6-0 after the first period and they won 12-0."
All but two Cougars are second-year bantams, but even with an older team they're finding it difficult to match the level of play of the top teams. The Cougars play in the Okanagan Mainline Amateur Hockey Association, which means their closest Tier 1 competition is in Kamloops and Kelowna.
The Cougars finished league play fourth in the standings with a 7-5-1 record, while Kamloops (12-0-1) and Kelowna (9-4-0) were first and second respectively. Overall, the Cougars had a 18-18-1 record and were ranked 14th in the province.
"To put a higher-level team together it's so much traveling for the kids -- our closest match is in Kamloops, a 5 1/2-hour bus ride away," said Long. "Burnaby and North Shore are a half-hour away from each other and Kamloops and Kelowna have themselves to play really close together. They also have the academies down there to play all the time. It's a pretty big accomplishment anytime a Prince George team puts up a provincial banner."
The Cougars had only about a month to practice on the large Kin 1 rink and Long says they've adapted well to their new surroundings.
"It's a beautiful facility and it's nice to play at home," said Long. "The ice is really big so it's been an adjustment for the boys to get used to but we've had lots of practices in here and a few exhibition games."
While they haven't been able to lead their team into the win bracket, the Cougars defencemen Jesse Pomeroy and Jarin Sutton have been standouts, as has the Devin Sutton-Myles Mattila-Darian Long forward line and goaltender Matthew Ens, who has handled the bulk of the duties in goal. They've been feeding off the energy of the enthusiastic home crowds at Kin 1. Attendance has been close to the 300 mark for each Cougar game.
Before the Cougars took to the ice Wednesday, Cowichan Valley Capitals evened their record at 2-2 with a 6-4 win over Kelowna. In other results, North Shore beat Burnaby 2-1 and in the morning game Kamloops defeated Kelowna 2-1. Brendan Mongey notched the winner for the Blazers, 16:29 into the third period.
