Dorrin Luding won't forget the first time he got swarmed by his teammates on the ice at Kin 1.
It happened eight months ago when he helped the North Shore Winter Club Winterhawks clinch the bantam tier 1 provincial hockey championship.
Sunday afternoon he was back at Kin 1 doing what he does best, stopping pucks. His 23-save shutout took the sizzle out of the Okanagan Rockets in a 3-0 whitewash -- the first perfect game in Luding's B.C. Major Midget Hockey League career.
"In those last seconds I was getting a little nervous but the team kept it in their zone and they came out and did it for me," said Luding, who improved his season record to 7-1-1 as the Cougars completed a two-game sweep of the Rockets.
"My players backed me up the whole game. It's not really my shutout, it's the team's. Winning these games builds our confidence heading into the Mac's tournament."
Last season with his bantam team, Luding posted an astounding 18 shutouts with a 0.96 goals-against average and .934 save percentage and a 34-3-1 record in 38 games
The timing of his best game in a Cougar uniform couldn't be better. Later this week, Hockey BC will be announcing the roster for Team B.C. to represent the province at the Canada Winter Games and Luding and Cougars forward Justin Almeida are prime candidates.
"That's going to be another nervous day. I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best," said Luding, a 15-year-old native of North Vancouver who moved to Prince George with his family over the summer.
League scoring leader Austin Gray, Keith Redden and Chase DuBois supplied the offence for the Cougars and Luding shared the spoils of the Cougars airtight coverage in front of him. He stopped Zach Erhardt on a breakaway and got some iron luck on his side when Lucas Cullen rang the goal post before the game was five minutes old.
Almeida, who also played for Luding's North Shore bantam team last season, said it was only a matter of time before Luding put up his first donut.
"At the beginning of the year he was unlucky a couple times when he let in one goal and we were beating teams and this will help get his confidence up and impress Team B.C. scouts," said Almeida, who had one assist. "I'm a little bit nervous but also excited because it's a dream to play for Team B.C. at Canada Winter Games."
The Cougars struck first, while killing a penalty 12:44 into the second period. Gray took Joel Patsey's alley-oop pass in the clear and the 17-year-old centre finished with a high shot over the shoulder of goalie Cole Demers. Redden, at even strength, and Redden, a two-man power play, scored in the third period. Patsey and Alex Hanson each finished with two assists.
Combined with their 4-1 win over the Rockets Saturday, the weekend sweep improved the Cougars' first place BCMMHL record to 17-2-1. The Rockets (13-6-1) remained third.
On Saturday, Colton Thomas cashed in a rebound 32 seconds into the third period to open the scoring and the Cougars added three more, including an empty-netter. Redden and DuBois also scored on Rockets goalie Jordan Reynolds, who played well in making 26 saves.
The Cougars will host the Thompson Blazers this weekend at Kin 1.
