The Cariboo Cougars skated to gold at the Mac's Midget AAA Hockey Tournament. Let's put that accomplishment into perspective.
First and foremost, the Cougars - based in Prince George and formed by local and regional players - won a tournament considered to be the unofficial world championship for their age group. The 15- to 17-year-old Cats earned the right to call themselves the best on the planet when they beat the Regina Pat Canadians 2-1 in double overtime on New Year's Day in Calgary.
If 'world champions' sounds like a stretch, it really isn't.
During its 37 years of prestigious history, the Mac's has regularly brought together the top teams from North America and Europe. Clubs must apply for entry and only the cream of the crop are accepted. This year, international teams included the German U17 Nationals, New York Junior Islanders and San Jose Junior Sharks. The German squad was one of the favourites to take the Mac's title, especially after it dominated its round-robin pool (4-0 record, 22 goals for, just four goals against).
But how good were the Cougars? Well, in the playoff quarterfinals, they blasted the U17 Nationals 5-1. Then, in the semis, the Cats showed their character when they outlasted the highly-touted Calgary Buffaloes 5-4 in overtime, a win that set them up for their extra-time decision against Regina in the final. Overall, the Cougars posted a 6-1 record, their only loss a 4-2 setback against the Calgary Northstars in pool play. In their other games, the Cats beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 6-3, defeated the Battlefords Stars 3-1 and topped the Markham Waxers 5-3.
Quality teams, of course, consist of quality players and only time will tell how many of this year's Mac's participants end up in the NHL someday. Mac's alumni who went on to NHL careers include Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, Mike Modano, Trevor Linden, Kirk McLean, Cliff Ronning, Prince George product Daryl Reaugh (who tended goal for a local team in 1980) and current Prince George Cougars assistant coach Roman Vopat, who skated for Litvinov of the Czech Republic in 1992. And there are many other Mac's NHLers - including P.G.'s Tony Twist (1983) - but the complete list would eat up this entire page.
Winning the Mac's is incredibly difficult. For a little more perspective, consider that the Cougars - routinely one of the elite teams in B.C. - had played in the tournament eight previous times (2006-07 through to 2013-14) and had only made the playoffs twice. They suffered quarterfinal losses in 2009-10 (4-3 to the eventual-champion Vancouver Northwest Giants) and 2012-13 (3-2 in overtime to Pirati Chomutov of the Czech Republic).
This time around, the Cougars had all the pieces for victory in place. They got stellar goaltending from Griffen Outhouse and Dorrin Luding, a commitment from all their players to fill their roles to the best of their abilities and without complaint and, of course, some timely goals. The two biggest came off the sticks of 15-year-old Justin Almeida and 16-year-old Chase Dubois, who netted the OT winners in the semifinal and final respectively.
With their Mac's victory, the Cougars have also put themselves in the local history books. They are the first Prince George-based team to win the tournament and just the second organization from B.C. (the Giants have two titles to their credit, the one in 2009-10 and another in 2012-13).
For the Cougars, the Mac's triumph comes at a time when they are pulling away from all their rivals in the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League. Heading into a pair of home games this weekend against the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs (7:15 p.m. Saturday, 8:30 a.m. Sunday at Kin 1), the Cougars have a first-place record of 22-3-1 and are nine points ahead of the second-place Okanagan Rockets.
If the Cougars can add a regular-season and playoff championship to their Mac's title, this could really be the year of the Cat.
In the grand scheme of things, there's no telling how far this team could go. The dream destination would be the Telus Cup national championship tournament, April 20-26 in Rivire-du-Loup, Que. The Cougars have never been to the Telus Cup and now there's a certain amount of pressure on them to get there. To qualify, they would have to skate to a playoff banner here in B.C. and then beat the Alberta winner in a best-of-three regional series.
With the Cougars already being world champs, a Canadian crown would fit them ever so well.
