The Cariboo Cougars may have suffered only their third loss of the season to end the first half of the B.C. Hockey Major Midget Hockey League schedule in Richmond on the weekend, but they hope to rebound on Boxing Day.
The Cougars are once again competing in the Mac's Midget triple-A World Invitational tournament in Calgary from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1.
The 25-team tournament features top triple-A midget squads from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, the junior Islanders from New York and the San Jose junior Sharks from California. The German under-17 national team is also in the field, which is divided into five round-robin pools of five.
The Cougars open the tournament against the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday, then play the Calgary Northstars on Dec. 28, the Battlefords Stars (North Battleford, Sask.) on Dec. 29 and the southern Ontario-based Markham Waxers on Dec. 30.
"The Hurricanes are a middle-of-the-pack team and have some good goaltending," said Cougars co-coach and general manager Trevor Sprague. "The Northstars are the same thing. They work hard for 60 minutes. Against Battlefords, that's a big game right there to determine who moves on in the tournament. The Waxers look like they've had a lot of close games."
The top team in each pool advances to the quarter-finals, while the remaining three squads get in based on goals for and against.
After a couple of days of practice, the Cats board their bus on Christmas Day en route to Calgary.
The Cats were winless with a 0-4 record in the 2013 tournament, but were 3-1-1 in 2012, when they lost in the quarter-finals.
After 26 league games, the Cougars have a nine-point cushion ahead of the second-place Okanagan Rockets.
They earned a 5-1 victory on the road against the Richmond-based Greater Vancouver Canadians on Saturday, but lost 4-2 on Sunday which snapped a 13-game winning streak.
"We played pretty good on Saturday, but in practice we worked on a couple of drills of getting your own puck to deal with the smaller ice surface in Richmond," said Sprague. "On Sunday on the smaller ice surface in Richmond, we had too many turnovers on the blueline and we didn't capitalize on our opportunities to score.
"The loss is timely, it makes us humble and we're excited for the Mac's," said Sprague. "We're moving forward."
The Cariboo Cougars alumni game is today at 5 p.m. at Kin 1.
The Northland Dodge Northern female Cougars are also competing in the Mac's tournament, beginning on Friday. The Cougars open against the St. Albert Slash. They share a pool with the Slash, Swift Current Diamond (Saskatchwan), Westman Wildcats (Manitoba) and Peace Country Storm (Alberta).
Like their male counterparts, the Cougars sit in first place in the B.C. Hockey Female triple-A Midget League.
This is the third straight year the Cougars have been invited to the Mac's. They went 0-4 in each of the previous two years.
