There's no place like home for the Prince George Prime Truck and Trailer Cougars.
They knew before the season began they would be hosting the peewee Tier 2 provincial hockey championship on home ice at Kin 1 and can't wait to get started Monday at 6:30 p.m. when they dig in for their first game against Cranbook.
The Cougars' roster is pretty much an even split split between first-year peewees getting their first taste of rep team hockey right out of the atom house league and more seasoned second-year players on the verge of making the jump to the bantam ranks.
They don't have the depth of more experienced teams like Burnaby Winter Club, Fort St. John and Penticton, but the Cougars are playing at home and they intend to use that to their advantage to put up a strong showing in the four-day, six-team tournament.
"We've had a pretty strong season and have had a lot of success up north here and have had some success down south against teams that are going to be at provincials," said Cougars head coach Don Gaboury.
"We're all about developing and getting to the next step and I think we've done that. I think we're on top of our game right now and that's always good going into provincials."
The Cougars have been busy this season on the tournament trail, winning in Terrace, Williams Lake and Vanderhoof and finishing third in Quesnel. Against tougher provincial-calibre opponents at tournaments in Kamloops and Kelowna, where they played Fort St. John, Trail and Penticton, the Cougars hung in with those teams but faltered in the late stages of those games.
"We have a young team and we can compete with those teams, we just couldn't do it for 60 minutes and it ended up costing us some wins," said Gaboury. "The difference at this level is a lot of these teams have those one or two players and it's a matter of whether you can control those kids.
"We've designed ourselves to be a hardworking, move-the-puck team. We're not overly big and we're really about puck movement. We're playing all the games at Kin 1, which is a big ice surface, and that takes away the size and strength side of the game it makes it more about puck movement and finesse."
The Cougars' strength starts in goal and either Orry Currie or Josh Adams can get the job done in net. Much of the Cougars' success next week will depend on whether their top point producers - Reid Mosdell and Brennan Bott can fill opponents' nets and the quality of leadership they receive from their captains - forward Riley Gaboury and blueliners Bryce Blackman and Cameron Geortzen.
Prince George beat Williams Lake in two straight games in the zone playoffs a month ago. They got booted out of their home arenas for about three weeks in February while Prince George hosted the Canada Winter Games but Gaboury doesn't think that will affect their performance in provincials.
"I think that was a bit of blessing in disguise because we had a lot of hockey going into that and I think (the break) rejuvenated our kids a bit and we got enough hockey after that to get the kids excited about playing again," said Gaboury.
In the other scheduled games for Prince George, the Cougars play Fort St. John Tuesday at 6 p.m., and face Port Moody Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Five other Prince George teams and one for Vanderhoof have qualified for provincial hockey tournaments. In Comox, the Coast Inn of the North Cougars are among seven teams set to begin their provincial quest Sunday (see other story).
In Surrey the Viking Construction pee wee Tier 1 Cougars take on Burnaby Winter Club in their first game Sunday at 5:15 p.m. at a six-tournament, while the Farr Fabricating bantam Tier 1 Cougars are also matched with Burnaby Sunday at 4:30 p.m. to start their six-team provincial playoffs in Kelowna.
The Scotiabank female peewee Cougars are in West Vancouver for a six-team tournament and open Sunday at 7:30 p.m. against North Shore. The Players Bench bantam Tier 2 Cougars face off against Vancouver Sunday at 9 a.m. to begin their nine-team tournament. Vanderhoof has also qualified and will play Cranbrook Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
