Midget Cats in contention for B.C. title
Justin Fillion wanted a more complete effort and he got it.
In the first two games of the B.C. Hockey midget Tier 1 provincial championship tournament, the head coach of the Coast Inn of the North Cougars had seen his team fall behind and then stage furious third-period comebacks to win. But, on Tuesday night at Kin 1, the Cougars were fired up as soon as they hit the ice and skated to a 3-1 victory against the Kamloops-based Thompson Lions.
“It was definitely a lot better, more consistent game for us,” Fillion said. “We started from the drop of the puck and played hard. Kamloops, they gave us a push for sure. I think they knew their tournament lives were on the line and they came out and gave everything they had.”
With the loss, the Lions slipped to 1-2 and no longer have a chance to play in today’s championship game.
In the Cougars-Lions clash, the teams were tied 1-1 after the first period. Thompson’s Brendan Roche opened the scoring at the 15:55 mark and Tyler Marsh drew Prince George even at 18:05.
The Cougars got what proved to be the win- ning goal half way through the second period when Chase Schurack connected on a power play. Off a cycle, Schurack got the puck and broke for the middle of the ice near the top of the faceoff circles. He found some open space, and, with the chance to shoot, went high and beat goaltender Kendra Woodland.
Near the end of the second period, while the Cougars were killing a kneeing penalty to Landon Kitchen, 15-year-old Brandon Dent scored a shorthanded insurance marker. The goal was his fourth in three games.
“He definitely has the ability to be the best player in this tournament,” Fillion said. “Luckily for us, he’s been showing that. That line – he plays with Craig Macdonald and Tyler Marsh – I think they all have really elevated their games this tournament. You can see they really want to win and they’re carrying us when we need to be carried.”
In the third period, the Lions did their best to get back in the game but Cougars goalie Jake Sweet blocked everything they threw at him. Sweet was excellent the entire game, much like he was when he stopped 47 of 50 shots in a 5-3 Monday win against the Coquitlam Chiefs.
“He played big again,” Fillion said. “Our goaltending has been our strength (this season). We’re so fortunate to have two solid goalten- ders (the other being Aaron Jakubowski), and Jake played unbelievable. We got into some penalty trouble and he was our best penaltykiller.”
The Cougars were whistled for 11 minor infractions so that’s an area in which Fillion and the coaching staff would like to see an improvement.
“We definitely have to stay out of the penalty box,” Fillion said. “That’s kind of been our Achilles heel. Some penalties are deserved, some are a bit iffy, but at the end of the day we’ve still got to find a way to stay out of the penalty box. Against a good team that has a good power play, they’ll make us pay every time.”
The Cougars were back in action in Wednesday night’s late game against the Chilliwack Bruins. Both teams entered the contest – which was still in progress at The Citizen’s press deadline – with 3-0 records.
The six-team tournament wraps up today at Kin 1. Coquitlam (2-2 record after a 1-0 Wednesday loss to the Lions) and Chilliwack will meet at 10:45 a.m., while the Cougars will close out round robin against the Saanich Braves (1:30 p.m. start time).
The top two teams will skate for the B.C. banner at 7:30 p.m. The Cougars entered provincials as the defending champion.
Morrison has been practicing since last week and says he will be ready to go when the puck drops Friday for Game 1 at CN Centre. His injury forced him to miss the last nine regular-season games but he still had a productive season with 21 goals and 52 points, with 55 penalty minutes in 61 games and a plus-16 rating.
All that time off the ice left Morrison anxious to get back to doing what he’s done so well throughout his career – using his waterbug quickness and shifty stickhandling to make opponents look silly.
“It was hard for me having an injury like that down the stretch but now I feel better, my ankle’s better and I’ll be playing Friday and I think it will be a lot of fun,” said Morrison, who has gained a new perspective on his team from the press box while the Cats finished the season on a 7-20-1 run.
“It’s a high level of hockey, obviously, and watching the creativity out there from the team the last five or six games, I missed being out there and now I’m getting the chance to play again.”
The Winterhawks and Cougars split the season series with two wins apiece and Morrison knows the threat posed by the second-highest scoring team in the Western Conference.
“In playoffs, anything can happen and we have to make sure we’re ready to play,” said Morrison.
“I know Portland is fast and they have about five or six forwards and two or three defenceman to worry about. They have a lot of guys who can score and make plays and we have to play good defence against them. We have to come back hard and watch our turnovers and we’ll be fine.”
Picked seventh overall in the 2012 bantam draft, Morrison has collected 85 goals, 103 assists and 188 points in 260 games over four seasons playing for his hometown Cougars. In his NHL draft year last season he finished with 28 goals and 62 points and was rewarded when the New York Rangers selected him in the fourth round of the draft, 108th overall.
Although he has yet to sign a pro contract, the fact Morrison is already on the Rangers’ radar took some of the pressure off trying to impress the scouts in the last month of the season that he missed.
He’s one of eight Cougars with 20 or more goals in 2016-17 and knows he doesn’t have to be the go-to guy to fill the net every night for the Cats to win like they did so often this season, setting an all-time franchise record with 45 victories.
“I’m not too worried about the stats, it doesn’t really matter to me,” said Morrison. “The Rangers know I can score and make plays and it will come. It’s a little different this year, I haven’t been used to having so many players that can play on the team. There are other guys who can score and as long as the team wins that’s all that matters.
“We have 13 (19-year-olds) and we need to use our experience to our advantage and hopefully we’ll go far in playoffs. With team success, my personal success will come.”
The Cougars had the luxury of depth working for them as they made their push for the B.C. Division title and weren’t tempted to rush Morrison back before he was 100 per cent healed. Head coach Richard Matvichuk says he’s looking forward to seeing Morrison return to his old ways as one of the WHL’s most exciting players.
“When he plays the proper way – and that’s using his skills to his advantage and not turning pucks over in high-risk areas – he’s a lethal player. He’s dynamic, he’s one of the most skilled guys in the league and he can turn something out of nothing,” said Matvichuk. “With his ability to skate and the way he can skate, you can see why he’s a drafted player. The good thing (with his return) is we’ll go back to Day 1 when we got all our players back from NHL camps, when we were a four-line, sixdefenceman, two-goalie team, and right now we’re very close, a little bit of an injury away, but I think he’ll be fine to play.”
The Cougars nearly sold out CN Centre in their last regular-season home game against Kamloops on Saturday and tickets will be hard to come by for their playoff games Friday and Sunday. Having grown up in the city watching Cougar playoff games since he was a youngster, Morrison is looking forward to rowdy receptions when they skate onto the ice against the Winterhawks.
“It makes the game more fun to play when there’s 6,000 fans cheering for you to win and I’m excited for that and can’t wait for it,” he said.