The two top teams in the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League clashed over the weekend at Kin 1, offering a highly-entertaining pre-Christmas glimpse of what can be expected when they represent B.C. at the Mac's Invitational midget tournament in Calgary.
The hometown Cariboo Cougars and defending BCHMML-champion Fraser Valley Thunderbirds tuned up for the Mac's with a fast-moving display of skill, grit and determination and the T-birds used the opportunity in the two-game series to improve their grip on first place in the 11-team league.
After earning a point in a 4-3 overtime loss Saturday night, the T-birds took the Sunday morning rematch 4-3. Graham Sward scored 5:57 into the third period to break a 3-3 tie and the T-birds leaned on goalie Dawson Pelletier the rest of the way to take three of four points and lock up their third win in four games against the Cougars this season.
John Lee led the T-birds with three goals. Jacob Wright had three assists.
Goals from Fischer O'Brien and minor midget call-up Hunter Brown gave the Cougars a 2-1 lead after one period. Lee scored twice in the second period and Alex Ochitwa countered for Cariboo.
Trailing by a goal, the Cougars dominated the puck in the third period and had several great chances to tie it, none better than defenceman Matthew Marotta's goalpost clanger with about five minutes left. The shots favoured the Cougars 37-25
"With the Cariboo Cougars we always know it's a very competitive, hard-hitting battle," said T-birds head coach Peter Hay. "When you're battling for first place everyone steps up their game against you and it's been happening all year. Cariboo is a very good team and they're built very similar to us, from the back end out, and it's good for hockey to see this level of play. It's very competitive and I always get up for these games as a coach - it makes you shiver, and it's exciting to see what we've got.
"A bounce could have gone either way and we got lucky at the end there not getting a goal against. There were some posts and some big saves from Pelletier. It was a good road victory for us."
On Saturday, Brett Fudger's power-play goal - with Lee serving a tripping penalty that carried over from the third period - ended it 51 seconds into overtime. The Cougars built a 3-0 lead in the first period on goals from Jacob Gendron, Curtis Hammond and Grady Thomas. Sward made it a two-goal game late in the first period and Zackary Funk and Gerrit Lindhout each scored in the third period on Cariboo goalie Devin Chapman to force OT.
"They're first for a reason - we made a couple mistakes today and they made it count for them," said Cougars head coach Tyler Brough. "We're OK with the weekend but it's a little frustrating right now. We gave up a point (Saturday) having them down 3-0, but they're a well-coached, good disciplined team and they're Number 1 and we have some work to come out on top of them."
The Cougars were without 17-year-old forward Booker Daniel, who was called up to the WHL by the injury-riddled Tri-City Americans. Brough hopes to have him back for the Mac's.
Kevin Craig, a 17-year-old Langley native who played 2 1/2 seasons of minor hockey in Prince George, served as an affiliated player for the Cougars last season while playing goal for the Coast Inn of the North Tier 1 midgets. He needed no introduction facing his former teammates on the Olympic-size rink at Kin 1 on Saturday.
"It was great to come back and play a game in a great atmosphere - it was a good feeling to see a bunch of people I know and play against some buddies," said Craig, who made 24 saves. "It was a good game, we got off to a rocky start but after that we settled down and played well as a team. There's a bit of rivalry between these two teams going back to last year when we met in the final and (the T-birds) ended up winning."
The Cougars (16-5-3-0) remained second in the league, five points behind the T-birds (19-3-1-1) and two points ahead of the third-place Vancouver Northeast Chiefs (14-5-3-2).
Cariboo has been invited to the Mac's tournament 14 straight years. For the 17-year-old Hammond, a native of Fort St. John, this will be his first. The team leaves for Calgary on Christmas Day.
"We just need to work on a few little things coming up this next week to be ready for the Mac's, but for 40 minutes of (Sunday's) game we outbattled them and had so many chances we couldn't bury," said Hammond. "We laid off the gas a bit (Saturday). One thing we're trying to work on is once we get a team down just keep pushing and set them down early. These two games lead us off to the Mac's on a high note."
