It's two gold medals in a row for the Viking Construction Tier 1 Peewee Cougars, and this time it was won on home ice.
The team of 11- and 12-year-old hockey players took top honours at a tournament in Cloverdale in late December, then earned more glitter this past weekend at their home tournament.
"We actually didn't expect this," said tournament chair Marco Myatovic. "We were up against Langley, and they are ranked very high in the Lower Mainland, they are a very talented team."
The Langley Eagles were, in all other ways, as tough as they were billed. They ended up in the finals versus Prince George, and then it was a barn-burner of a championship game.
For the local team to get to that point, they first faced off against another Prince George team, a Bantam house team that entered the competition. The Cougars, the top rep team in their age bracket, got past the Bantam squad with a 4-3 win.
Next up for the Cougars was their round robin match-up with Langley and they surprised the vaunted Lower Mainlanders with a 4-1 score.
When the Cats played next, they upped their goal total again, but couldn't get past the Edmonton Northwest Zone Rebels. That tilted ended in a 6-6 draw.
It was enough to get the young Cougars into the playoffs, however, and again they were up against the Bantam House Predators. The older team had been the victim of a paradox, however. They had two players with enough talent to be listed for rep call-up, and by coincidence, both those call-ups happened midway through the tournament. The shorthanded team played without their offensive leaders and fell to the Cougars 15-0.
Langley, meanwhile, defeated Edmonton in the other playoff game setting up the grudge match for gold.
The Cougars struck first on a first period goal by Nico Myatovic, but the Eagles replied with tallies by Kaden Hammell and Isaiah Peters. Langley added to their lead in the second period on a goal by Darius Bachler.
Coach Don Gaboury and assistants Jason Leslie and Lucas Blinkhorn turned on the intermission inspiration, however. Brady McIsaac queued the comeback by potting two quick goals to tie the game. Amar Powar chipped in a go-ahead goal. Then, with the Eagles pressing hard for the equalizer, Powar netted another for insurance and Langley had no reply.
"The last couple of minutes were really tense, Langley really had the press on and we even had a player in the penalty box for awhile, so it was bananas," said Myatovic. "It was just what you'd want for a Tier 1 gold medal game, and both teams knew it. It was entertaining for everybody."
In a show of sportsmanship he'd never heard of before, Myatovic said he was, as chair of the tournament, summoned to the Langley bus just before they pulled out of town.
"They gave me a round of applause to pass on to the Prince George team and organizers, and said they were really looking forward to us working together again on sharing trips to tournaments in the future," he said. "It was really touching, really classy."
The Cougars roster was made up of: Daunte Auxi, Carson Briere, Scott Cousins, Dawson Davis, Brenden Gaboury, Terrell Goldsmith, Zach Leslie, Nathan Mackie, Linden Makow, Brady McIsaac, Matyas Mocilac, Decker Mujcin, Nico Myatovic, Brooke Norkus, Tye Peters, Amar Powar and Tysen Smith.
