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Coast Inn Cats open with comeback victory

A four-goal outburst in the third period and stellar goaltending by Jake Sweet allowed the Coast Inn of the North Cougars to post a thrilling comeback victory against the Coquitlam Chiefs in Monday's opening game of the B.C.

A four-goal outburst in the third period and stellar goaltending by Jake Sweet allowed the Coast Inn of the North Cougars to post a thrilling comeback victory against the Coquitlam Chiefs in Monday's opening game of the B.C. Hockey midget Tier 1 provincial championship tournament.
On the ice at Kin 1, the Cougars were down 2-1 after two periods but defeated the Chiefs 5-3. Coquitlam, which outshot Prince George 50-24, entered the six-team event as a favourite to claim this year's B.C. banner.
"We've had a pretty resilient team all year," said Cougars head coach Justin Fillion. "We've been through a lot of highs, we've been through a lot of lows. And when we come together as a group, most of the time we pull stuff out like that. The kids seriously believe they've got a chance to contend for a provincial championship, and they do. And they just showed it by coming back against arguably the best team here."
Cougars forward Brandon Dent, who seemed to be flying on every shift he took, pulled his team into a 2-2 tie with 12:56 left to play when he broke down the right side and fired a wrist shot past Chiefs goaltender Evan James.
Dent's goal was just the start of the fun.
A little more than four minutes later, with the clubs playing four-on-four hockey, Cedrick Renaud put Coquitlam back in front. But, just 23 seconds after that, Craig Macdonald converted a pretty saucer pass from Dent and the game was deadlocked again. Then, 35 seconds after the Macdonald marker – with four-on-four still in effect – Coast Inn forward Kyle Boshier worked his way to the front of the Chiefs' net and deflected home a shot by defenceman Landon Kitchen for a 4-3 lead.
The shell-shocked Chiefs had a prime opportunity in the late stages of the game to get the tying goal when Tyler Marsh of the Cougars was handed a penalty for head contact. But while killing the penalty, Coast Inn defenceman Max Arnold cleared the puck out of his zone and, shockingly, it slipped under the stick blade of goaltender James, who had come out past the top of his crease to send it back up ice to a teammate. At that point, the air was fully out of the Chiefs' balloon.
"It feels pretty good to come out hard in the third and pull off a win when we were down in the first two periods," said the 15-year-old Dent, who started the season with the Cariboo Cougars of the Major Midget League.
"It was fun," he added, in reference to Monday's third period. "It was also a bit nervous to go through but (there was) a lot of relief when the goalie missed that puck there."
Boshier, an 18-year-old who is playing the final games of his minor hockey career, gave his team full marks for the victory.
"We knew that was the biggest game of round robin, against Coquitlam," he said. "They were touted as the best team coming into this tournament so we really wanted to make sure we stayed strong defensively and waited for our time to push back. The third period we got a few quick ones and were up 4-3 and then got a lucky one on the fifth. It was crazy – it happened so fast."
Sweet, the 17-year-old Coast Inn goalie, deserved a ton of credit for keeping the Cats in the contest in the first two periods. Late in the third, when the game was on the line, he made a great glove stop on a puck that knuckled toward him through a crowd of players. Sweet also got a pad on a deflected shot that was headed for the back of his net.
"We're fortunate to have him and Aaron Jakubowski in net," Fillion said. "They're probably the two best goalies at the midget Tier 1 level in the province, and (Sweet) showed it today. Did we deserve to be in that game? Maybe yes, maybe no, but he was a big factor in why we got that win. He's a great talent and a great leader in the dressing room."
Cody Bailey had the other goal for the Cougars, while Shea Robertson and Nico Fazio were the other marksmen for the Chiefs.
Coast Inn, the defending provincial champion, played in Monday's late game against the North East B.C. Trackers and won 5-3.
Today, the Cats will be back at Kin 1 for a 7:45 p.m. game against the Thompson Lions.