A shootout loss kept the Viking Construction Cougars from playing in the championship game of their own event.
The defeat was a disappointing one, but the Cats bounced back in their next game and were rewarded with bronze medals in the Prince George Citizen Peewee Tier 1 Tournament.
For the Cougars, a rep team from the Prince George Minor Hockey Association, the shootout setback came during a Saturday afternoon game at Kin 2. The Cougars finished regulation time in a 3-3 tie with the Kelowna Rockets and ended up on the wrong end of a 4-3 final after the one-on-ones with the goaltenders. In a shootout that went five rounds, the Cats scored once (first round, Kellan Brienan), while the Rockets struck in the third round to stay alive and then won two shooters later.
"That's a tough loss - there were tears in the dressing room after the shootout," said Cougars head coach Brent McIsaac. "It was tough to come back and play a bronze-medal game when you lose a heartbreaker like that and you had your goals set higher, but they responded really well and came back with a real good effort."
The Cougars stepped back on the ice early Sunday morning at Kin 3 to battle the Quesnel Thunder for bronze and won 8-2. The Cats were backstopped to victory by goaltender James Terrion.
"He was strong for us, for sure," McIsaac said. "It took us probably 10 minutes to get going in that game and shake off the disappointment of the night before and he kept us in it until we got our legs going."
Overall, McIsaac's crew played to a weekend record of 2-1-1-1. The Cats started the tournament with a 5-0 Friday loss to the Vancouver Thunderbirds and, that night, defeated Quesnel 11-3. On Saturday morning, in the last game of pool play for both teams, the Cougars and Rockets skated to a 6-6 tie, a result that set up their semifinal rematch.
In the semifinal, the Cats nearly ended things in regulation time when they hit a crossbar while on a late third-period power play.
"We were all over them and just couldn't finish," McIsaac said. "Then when you get to a shootout, anything can happen."
Daniel Sturgeon was the Prince George goalie in the shootout and handled the pressure-packed situation with poise.
"He took the loss hard but it's not on him," McIsaac said. "He did everything he could do."
The Rockets and Cougars compete in the Okanagan Mainline Amateur Hockey Association and games between them have been tight all season.
"We're really evenly-matched," McIsaac said. "Coming into the tournament we'd played eight times over the course of the year in the OMAHA league and in tournaments and we'd each won four.
"We've been neck and neck all year, taking turns beating each other."
After the Cougars downed the Thunder for bronze, the Thunderbirds celebrated a 2-1 victory against the Rockets in the game for gold.
This weekend, the Cats will be in Penticton for exhibition games against Penticton and Kelowna. On Feb. 6-7, they'll skate in league games in Kamloops and will then finish off their regular season with more exhibition contests in the Okanagan.
As the only peewee Tier 1 club in this part of the province, the Cougars have a bye to their provincial championship tournament, slated for mid-March in Abbotsford.
"We're going to try and build off the good things we did this weekend and try and keep moving forward and progressing as a team, all in hopes of going down to Abbotsford at spring break and having a good showing down there," McIsaac said.
