Minor midget Cougars put on their game faces
They’re in a new league with a new name but expectations remain high for the Cariboo Cougars minor midget hockey team.
They plan on winning often in the B.C. Hockey Minor Midget League.
Formerly known as the Coast Inn of the North Tier 1 midget Cougars, the team of now strictly 15-year-old players (born in 2003) is part of a new branch set up by B.C. Hockey as a more cost-efficient and local alternative to private hockey academies that have sprung up in the province over the past decade.
Six of the players on the minor midget team are from Prince George, moving up from the bantam ranks last season, including goalie Kenny Gerow and forwards Jaydon Merritt, Kellan Brienen, Nicolas Braaten, Landon Ingham and Tyler Lalikeas.
The other 13 are from a vast catchment area of northern B.C. and the Yukon Territory.
The forward group also includes Cole Cowan (Whitehorse), Colton Thon (Quesnel), Ashton Underhill (Whtehorse), Dawson Riley (Quesnel), Hunter Brown (Fort St. John) and Samuel Chabot (Williams Lake).
On defence are Brody Johnston (Vanderhoof), Lee Livingstone (Quesnel), Wyatt Millner (Fort St. John), Owen Palfreyman (Whitehorse), Deegan Tremaine (Fort St. John) and Nick Wright (Wiliams Lake).
Palfreyman has been added to the Calgary Hitmen’s 50-player protected list, while Brown was chosen by the Red Deer Rebels in the seventh round of the 2018 WHL draft. Johnston has been playing up with the Cariboo Cougars major midget team the past two weeks.
Gerow of Prince George is sharing the goaltending duties with Dawson Smith of Whitehorse, but Smith is hurt, so Jackson Powers of Smithers will be with the team until Smith’s knee has healed from arthroscopic surgery.
Head coach Brian Toll figures the Cougars will be quite offensive-minded and should emerge as a top-tier team in the 10-team league.
“Our top two forward lines are really quite strong – they’re big boys, they’re strong and fast, and I’d say overall I probably have a more talented team than my midget Tier 1 team last year,” said Toll, who coached the Tier 1 midget Cougars to the provincial silver medal in March.
“Lots of these kids are on the radar of Western League teams. We’ll go with seven defenceman and 10 forwards this year, so every game is going to be a bit of a competition for icetime.”
The Cougars are in Coquitlam tonight to play the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs in the first of a three-game series. They meet the Chiefs Saturday at 12:15 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m.
All told, the Cougars will play a 30-game schedule on 10 weekends throughout the fall and winter. They’ll host the South Island Royals in their first home series, Oct. 19-21 at Kin 1.
To fill in some of the gaps in the schedule the Cougars are entered in four tournaments, starting with the Thompson Blazers’ tournament in Merritt, Oct. 12-14. They’re also booked for the Richmond International tournament over Christmas, and will face academy teams at events in Delta in January and in Edmonton in February.
All of the players attend Prince George Secondary School and work with Renzo Berra and Justin Fillion in the hockey program at PGSS. In addition to their team practices with Toll and his assistants, Ryan Howse and Chase Astorino and former WHL Cougar goalie Ty Edmonds, they’re on the ice for 75-minute skill sessions three times per week. They also work in the gym twice a week with Prince George Cougars strength and conditioning coach Kris Russell. Cara Roberts, owner of Active Body Nutrition, provides food counselling for the players.