It was a slow start but good finish for the Northern major midget female Cougars in their opening weekend of the B.C. Hockey Female Midget AAA League.
After losing their first three games of the super weekend tournament in Surrey, the Cougars earned a 3-1 win over the Okanagan Rockets.
Cougars head coach Stew Malgunas said his team started out with the jitters but as the weekend progressed they steadily improved.
Kali Walls was "fantastic" in the Cougars net in the 3-1 win making 30 saves. The Cougars goal scorers were Jocelyn Forrest, Chantelle Beadman-Rolph and Kelsey Todd.
Malgunas said the Cougars will be one of the youngest in the league this season, with mainly 14- and 15-year-old players, and only three veterans from last season.
In their opening game, the Cougars took it on the chin, falling 8-1 to the defending champion Fraser Valley Phantoms. In their second game the Cougars were shut out 1-0 by Kootenay and then lost 4-1 to the Pacific Ravens.
The female Cougars return to the Lower Mainland this weekend where they'll get a chance to test their improvement against the Phantoms on Saturday, 1 p.m., and Sunday, 3:45 p.m., at the Langley Sportsplex.
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After the Prince George Cougars players left the ice after Monday's WHL practice, head coach Dean Clark set up a mandatory exercise for the defencemen so they could work on increasing their foot speed.
Sophomore forward Jordan Tkatch asked his coach if he could join the eight defenders in the exercise. The nine players spent about 10 minutes on the exercise outside the Cougars' dressing room after a two-hour practice.
"I think Jordan's attitude this year is way better than it was last year," said Clark. "I think he understands that in order to get better you've got to do more."
