Cariboo Cats set for challenge of Blazers
The first rule of a playoff series is this: take nothing for granted.
When the second-ranked Cariboo Cougars step onto Kin 1 ice this afternoon to face the seventh-seeded Thompson Blazers in Game 1 of a best-of-three B.C. Hockey Major Midget League quarterfinal, they’ll be doing their best to keep the above edict in mind. Even though the Cougars swept the Blazers in four regularseason meetings and outscored them 26-7, the Thompson squad is a much improved one since its last encounter with the Cats, which ended in a 9-0 loss on Dec. 10 in Prince George.
From January forward, the Blazers went 10-7-1 and even beat the top-seeded Valley West Hawks 4-1 on Jan. 21.
To make this playoff match-up even more interesting, the Blazers have one of the top goaltenders in the league in the form of Ethan Langenegger. The 17-year-old Kamloops product finished sixth in wins during the season (record of 14-15-0-1) and also posted a victory in the junior A B.C. Hockey League with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks. In his lone appearance with the Silverbacks, Oct. 22 in Salmon Arm, he stopped 36 of 37 shots in a 3-1 win against the West Kelowna Warriors. For his efforts, he was named the game’s first star.
Today’s tilt between the Cougars and Blazers starts at 5:30 p.m. at Kin 1.
“It’s the playoffs and you can’t take any- body lightly in our league,” said Cougars head coach Tyler Brough. “Thompson has been a team that’s been on fire as of late. They depend highly on a very good goalie – one of the better goalies in the league – so we have to do a job to get in front of him and stick to what we know as our gameplan and what the Cariboo Cougars do because we’re a very good hockey team too. I think if we do our job we’ll be OK at the end of the day.”
During the season, the Cougars won 30 of the 40 games they played. They had just seven losses and three ties. The Blazers, meanwhile, went 17-21-1-1. In the season series between the two clubs, the Cats won the other three games by scores of 5-2, 6-1 and 6-4.
The Cougars are completely healthy as they start playoffs and will be backstopped by goaltender Marcus Allen. The 17-yearold Allen was second in wins this season (record of 23-4-3) and was also second in goals-against average (2.32). Only Josh Dias of the Hawks had better numbers – a 24-1-2 record with a goals-against average of 2.26.
Offensively, the Cougars are much more dangerous than the Blazers. The Cats scored 189 goals in 40 games (average of 4.7 per contest) while the Blazers managed just 110, the fewest of the eight playoff teams. On offence, Cariboo is led by 17-year-old captain Mason Richey, who finished the season with 26 goals and 64 points in the full slate of games. Other big guns include Brandon Dent (24 goals, 59 points), Hunter Floris (36 goals, 58 points) and Craig MacDonald (17 goals, 51 points). On the blueline, Brennan Malgunas chipped in with 11 goals and 33 points.
The two highest-scoring Blazers are forwards Tyson Gayfer (13 goals, 43 points) and Trent Thompson (16 goals, 39 points). The team also has a couple offensive threats on the blueline – Cole Nisse (five goals, 33 points) and Timber Lewis (six goals, 24 points).
Richey, the Cariboo captain, is well aware of the success the Blazers have had lately and is expecting a good series.
“But, I think that if we stick to how we know we can play, and how we usually do, we should be able to win,” he said.
Game 2 is set for 4 p.m. on Saturday, also at Kin 1. If a third game is required, it will start at 10 a.m. on Sunday.