The Coast Inn of the North Cougars are filled with cubs. Youth didn't prevent them from starting league play in impressive fashion.
Last weekend, the midget Tier 1 Cougars hosted the Central Okanagan Rockets in the opening games of the Okanagan Mainline Amateur Hockey Association schedule. On Saturday at
Kin 1, Coast Inn skated to a 3-1 victory. The next day at CN Centre, the Cougars and Rockets tied 3-3.
In minor hockey, the midget age group ranges from 15 to 17 and these Cougars have 13 players who are at the bottom end of the scale.
"We held our own," Cougars head coach Brian Toll said of the team's Saturday triumph.
"The team from Kelowna is a much older, more experienced team than we are but I thought that we did a really good job against them defensively. Our goaltenders played well in both games and I think the other part of it was, I believe that we have natural goal-scorers on our team and it doesn't appear as though a lot of teams have those natural goal-scorers."
The Coast Inn netminders - Dawson Frankforth and Kevin Craig - are both 15-year-olds but showed poise between the pipes when they had Rockets shooters bearing down on them. Craig was particularly solid in the Sunday tie, a game in which the Cougars were badly outshot.
As well as young goaltenders, the Cats' defence corps is baby-faced, with just one 17-year-old (Ray Prive). The rest of the blueliners are 15, including Mathew Magrath, who was chosen in the ninth round of the 2017 WHL bantam draft by the Prince George Cougars.
"They stepped up and they did a very good job against a very fast and experienced team that moves the puck well," Toll said in reference to his defencemen.
"I mean, we made some mistakes but at the same time we learned from them and I think that's the key thing."
In the forward units, some of those natural goal-scorers are Jaxon Danilec, Cody Bailey Jaden French, Chase Shurack and Alex Ochitwa.
"We've got two-and-a-half pretty solid lines that can score goals," Toll said.
"As is typical with younger guys we're working on teaching them how to play defence along with that. And that's sort of the tougher part of the game."
For the past two years, the Coast Inn Cougars have claimed the midget Tier 1 provincial championship title and Toll said the current Cats have the same potential. At this stage, however, development is the most important thing and Toll won't be surprised if the players take some big steps forward.
"I suspect, and my hope is, with the capacity these boys have, that by Christmas time we're going to be on a much more even footing with some of these older teams," he said.
"That's my hope anyway and we're working hard towards that. Every practice session the boys are focused and working hard and listening. They're a very coachable group, so that to me is important."
The Cougars will be in Revelstoke for a weekend tournament. Teams in their round-robin pool are Okotoks, Notre Dame, Nanaimo and the Calgary Rangers.
