The Cariboo Cougars bounced back in dominant fashion after they dropped the first game of a weekend doubleheader against the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds.
At Kin 2 on Saturday, the Cougars fell 3-1 to the Thunderbirds but, the next day on Olympic-sized ice at Kin 1, they skated to a 6-0 victory. In the B.C. Hockey Major Bantam League, the Cats now sit at 7-9-0-2, a mark that has them fifth out of eight teams. The T-birds are in third spot at 8-8-1-1.
In the opening game, the Cats trailed 2-1 going into the third period and weren’t able to find an equalizer. The Thunderbirds iced the contest with an empty-net goal by Evan Alfred Dyer with 52 seconds to play.
Dayton James Bruce Abbott of the Thunderbirds and Ryan Toor of the Cougars exchanged first-period goals and Nathan Prodanuk got what proved to be the winner on a second-period power play.
Jonathan Mao was the winning goaltender and Jaiden Jakubowski took the loss.
In the rematch, Damien Knackstedt was unbeatable in the Cariboo nets and, in front of him, the offence was clicking. Caleb Poitras and affiliated player Cameron Schmidt each scored twice for the Cougars, while Carter Hesselgrave and Joshua Mantler added singles. The Cats led 2-0 after the first period and tacked on the other four goals in the third.
The Cougars are now finished with league play until after Christmas. They’ll see their next league action when they host the first-place Okanagan Rockets on Jan. 11-12. The Rockets have gone 16-0-1-1 so far this season.
The North Central bantam double-A Bobcats were also on the ice this past weekend. They suited up in Kamloops and lost 7-2 and 4-1 to OMAHA Thompson Zone. The Bobcats (2-11-1-0) will play their next league games Jan. 18-19 in Prince George against East Kootenay (5-3-1-0).
***
In the B.C. Hockey Minor Midget League, the Cariboo Cougars pushed their league-leading record to 16-3-1-0 when they swept the host Valley West Giants in a weekend doubleheader.
In the games, played in Delta, the Cats prevailed 6-3 on Saturday and 3-1 on Sunday.
Cariboo forward Brady McIsaac had the hot stick in the opener and finished with a hat trick. Decker Mujcin, Brett Barwise and Chase Pacheco also scored for the Cougars, who were in a 3-3 tie after the second period but took complete control in the third. Tysen Smith was the winning goaltender.
In the Sunday game, the Cats trailed 1-0 after 20 minutes but got unanswered goals from Linden Makow, Amar Powar and captain Scott Cousins the rest of the way. In the nets, Jasper Tait earned the win.
Cousins went into the weekend as brand-new property of the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets, who added him to their 50-player protected list. Cousins leads the Minor Midget League scoring race with 21 goals and 42 points in 16 games.
The sixth-place Giants dropped to 7-11-1-1.
The Cougars will now take a break from league play until Jan. 11-12 when they visit the North Island Silvertips.
At the midget double-A level, the North Central Bobcats split a weekend series at Kin 1 with OMAHA South Zone. The Bobcats won 3-1 on Saturday and dropped a 2-0 decision on Sunday.
The Bobcats (4-5-1-0) will be in Kelowna on Jan. 11-12 to face off against first-place OMAHA Central (8-1-3-0).
