It was a golden Thanksgiving weekend for the Prince George Coast Inn of the North midget tier 1 Cougars at a hockey tournament in Kamloops.
The Cougars finished with a perfect 6-0 record backed by a stellar 1.66 goals against average. After a round-robin performance where the Cougars outscored the opposition (Hollyburn, Victoria, Kelowna, Ridge Meadows) 25-6, the team posted a 3-1 win over Abbotsford in the semifinal, before beating the host Kamloops team 5-3 in the final.
Cougars manager Brian Hards said the 2013-14 team appears to be as strong as the 2011 midget tier 1 Cougars team that won the provincial championship.
Overall the Cougars have a 7-0-1 record this season, including the first two games in the Okanagan Mainline Amateur Hockey Association (OMAHA). In September, the Cougars earned an 8-2 win and 2-2 tie with Kamloops in league play.
Cougars players include: Jamie Ferguson (goalie), Riley Druskin (goalie); defencemen Braedan Dyck, Austin Gray, Nathan Powar, Cole Slaney, Zack Smith and Chris Jandric; and forwards Thane Anderson (captain), Isiah Berra, Trevor Gagne, James Gordon, Darren Hards, Justin Hards, Gabe Mason, Keith Redden, Justin Schwing, Brayden Dale and Chris Metcalfe.
Ron Powar is the head coach of the Cougars.
The Cougars are off this weekend and return to action Oct. 26-27 when they host Kelowna in a pair of OMAHA games at Kin 3. Saturday's game is slated for 6:45 p.m. and Sunday's for 10:45 a.m.
Peewee Cougars settle for sixth
The Prince George Viking Construction peewee Cougars finished sixth out of eight teams at a peewee icebreaker tournament in Abbotsford on the weekend.
After posting a 1-2 round-robin record the Cougars were placed into the fifth-place game against Semiahmoo, which they lost 7-4. The Cougars pulled their goalie and had several chances but where unable to overcome the two-goal deficit. Semiahmoo iced the win with an empty-net goal.
Brandon Dent had two goals and an assist in the loss for the Cougars, while James Lalikeas and Brendan Moseley had the other goals.
The Cougars opened the tournament Saturday with a 5-2 win over Campbell River, but then lost 4-2 in the afternoon game to the Burnaby Winter Club. Dent had the hat trick, including the winning goal, against Campbell River. Against Burnaby Devin Krahn and Matthew Marotta had the goals for the Cougars.
On Sunday, the Cougars lost 3-1 to undefeated Cloverdale. Corey Cunningham had the lone goal for Prince George.
* If you want to see your team's minor hockey results in this space of the Citizen during the season, email [email protected] or [email protected] with the game scores, properly spelled names of players and coaches and a contact name and number before Monday at noon.
