The Cariboo Cougars did the expected and swept the Thompson Blazers in a weekend series. But, Sunday's win was anything but easy.
After a 10-3 victory Saturday night in Chase, the Cats edged the Blazers 6-5 on Sunday.
"It was a completely different one today," Cougars assistant coach James Morrison said from the team bus as it prepared to head north. "As a team, [the Blazers] played a whole lot harder but we started cheating a little bit. Because we put so many goals in the net [Saturday] we figured we'd get the same opportunities today and it cost us."
In the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League, the Cats improved to 25-10-1 and the Blazers dropped to 1-32-1.
On Sunday, the Cougars led 6-3 after two periods but watched the Blazers spark back to life in the third. The Thompson boys brought the score to 6-5 and, with their goalie pulled for the extra attacker, nearly tied the game in the dying moments.
"Luckily our d-men, forwards and our goaltender bailed us out in the last 15 seconds," Morrison said. "[The Blazers] put a couple pucks in the slot and [David] Readman, who was in net, made one great save and our d-men blocked a couple shots. Then they had another couple chances and our forwards were good enough to get their sticks in the lanes and make sure they couldn't get shots away."
Luke Gordon, with a hat trick and two assists, led the Cats to the Sunday win. Seb Lloyd added one goal and three assists, while affiliated player Darcy Flaherty and Levon Johnson also scored. The Cougars outshot the Blazers 42-17.
On Saturday, the Cats got a hat trick from Tanner Fjellstrom and two goals each from Lloyd and Gordon. Johnson, Eli Jarvis, and 14-year-old AP Mike Bell were also among the Cariboo marksmen. Gordon finished with four points, and Jared Rathjen was the winning goaltender.
The Cougars -- already short-staffed because of injuries -- lost forward Harjas Grewal to a concussion on Sunday. Grewal sustained the injury in the second period when he was checked into the boards and hit his head on one of the partitions by the penalty boxes.
The Cougars have a bye weekend coming up. Their next games are Feb. 19-20 at Kin 1 against the South Island Thunderbirds.
