Defenceman Ryan Gagnon fired a pair of goals for the Cariboo Cougars in a 6-2 playoff victory against the high-powered Vancouver Northeast Chiefs Friday night at Kin 1.
In front of a large and vocal crowd, the Cougars took a 1-0 advantage in the best-of-three B.C. Hockey Major Midget League semifinal series.
The Cougars were up 2-1 after the first period and 4-1 after 40 minutes.
In the first, Hayden-James Berra and Gagnon gave the Cats a 2-0 lead before Boston Colley responded for the Chiefs. In the middle frame, Chase Astorino and Gagnon extended the Cariboo advantage.
In the third, Cougars captain Tanner Fjellstrom scored his first of the playoffs. Jeff Wight answered for the Chiefs and Berra completed the scoring for the Cats.
With the Cougars ahead 5-2, things got ugly when the Chiefs' Liam Pearce delivered a cross check to the head of Cariboo forward Brett Roulston. Pearce was booted from the game and went to his dressing room, where teammate Nicco Marconato was resting a leg injury. Moments after Pearce got to his room, three young fans showed a complete lack of class by going inside and challenging the Chiefs players.
David Readman was the winning goaltender and Daniel Urbani took the loss.
The Chiefs entered the series as the highest-scoring team in the MML. They fired 200 goals in 40 regular-season contests.
The second-seeded Cougars and third-ranked Chiefs will meet again tonight (6:45) at Kin 1. If a third game is required, it will be on Kin 1 ice at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday.
