Viking Cats learning lessons at provincials
The Viking Construction Cougars of Prince George will not be one of the last two teams standing tonight when they drop the puck at Kin 1 for the Tier 1 peewee provincial final.
That was to be expected for the host club of the six-team tournament. They’re on young side of the peewee age spectrum with seven first-year peewees. Just one Cougar – defenceman and captain Terrell Goldsmith – played at the peewee Tier 1 level last season.
The Cougars’ unfamiliarity with playing the best of B.C., teams that were battle-tested recently while winning their regional playoffs, has been evident in the scores. Viking lost its opening game Monday morning 6-2 to Kamloops, then dropped the nightcap 10-2 to Semiahmoo of Surrey, and on Tuesday came out on the short end of a 9-1 score to the Burnaby Winter Club.
“They just don’t have a whole bunch of experience playing at a high calibre, we don’t play in a league that plays as many games and gets to as many tournaments as teams do in the Lower Mainland,” said Cougars head coach Travers Rebman.
“We have quite a young team with a few of guys coming up from atoms and the rest of the group (besides Goldsmith) either played peewee house or peewee Tier 2 last year. They don’t have a bunch of experience at that level and it shows in these games. We’ll play for 40 or 50 minutes head-to-head with them and then we’ll have a letdown for 10 minutes when they get four or five goals.
“Against Burnaby (Tuesday night) we were down 5-0 five minutes into the game and then it was a 2-0 and 2-1 period.
“We always have the same issue in the north where you have that lull of a month or so where you don’t have much for competitive games before you jump into Tier 1 provincials,” the Cougar coach said. “You just have to look at what they’re getting out of it as far as their development. They’re still young kids at peewee age and as long as these guys are learning things and progressing that’s what we look at, what we can get out of it.”
All the Viking players are from Prince George except right winger Diego Johnson, who is from Fort St. James.
“At this point they’re playing for each other, playing for some pride and they want put some games together that they can feel good about moving forward with their hockey next year,” said Rebman. “They want to try to put on a good showing for their family and friends who are watching.”
The Cats returned to the ice in the late game Wednesday night at Kin 1 to face the Victoria Racquet Club and were strong in a 2-0 loss. They will close out their tournament today at 1:30 against Kelowna.
Earlier Wednesday Victoria battled Kelowna to a 6-6 tie, while Semiahmoo beat Kelowna 8-3.
Both Cougar goalies – Navann Lamarre and Brady MacKay – have been getting their money’s worth in the tournament, facing dozens of shots in each game. Both are first-year rep team players. Lamarre was cut from the rep team last year and played house league while MacKay moved up from the atom house league.
This season the Cougars competed in the three-team Tier 1 division in the Okanagan Mainline Amateur Hockey Association (OMAHA) and finished third with a 3-12-1-0 record. In late November they won the Kelowna tournament and also played in tournaments in Coquitlam, Kamloops, Abbotsford and Grande Prairie.
At provincials, Burnaby and Kamloops each won their first three games and played each other Wednesday, which resulted in a 3-3 tie. Those two teams are tops in the standings and are likely to advance to the championship game tonight at 7:30 at Kin 1.