Sports Cariboo Cats advance to league final
The Cariboo Cougars are moving on to the league championship series but it sure wasn’t easy getting that far.
The Vancouver Northwest Giants made sure of that Sunday, giving the Cougars a severe test on the big rink at Kin 1 Sunday in the deciding game of the best-of-three B.C. Hockey Major Midget League semifinal.
In a 6-3 victory, Hunter Floris scored two goals to spice the Cougars’ offence and Marcus Allen was sharp in goal, making 23 saves to bring his team to within two wins of the league title.
“It feels great to beat the Giants, with the rivalry they have with the Cariboo Cougars,” said Allen.
“We ran into some adversity when they tied the series up but we got over it and came out with the win. That puck definitely didn’t go in but we just had to forget about it and use that to fuel the fire to get back at them the next day like we did today.”
Still seething from their controversial 4-3 double-overtime loss in Game 2 Saturday, the Cougars were at their opportunistic best in the first period. They had two great scoring chances and scored on both of them. Mason Richey got them started 2:20 into the game.
He put on a burst of speed to beat his check wide, then filed away a shot just under the crossbar to the stick side of goalie Jesse Makaj.
Late in the period, Jeremy Gervais stole the puck away from bantam call-up Connor Wetsch just inside the Giants’ zone and spotted Floris in the slot and he found the net with a low shot.
In a wild second period that produced five goals, the Giants scored two quick ones early in the period to get back on even terms. Kent Johnson, the 14-year-old brother of Prince George Spruce Kings forward Kyle, showed his skill with a slick move along the left wing wall to elude Cougars defenceman Joel Patsey and was able to chip it past Allen, 1:30 into the period. Less than three minutes later, with the Giants on the power play, Gianni Fairbrother let go a shot from the point that got through a screen.
The Cougars scored the next two. Daine DuBois fed Trey Thomas in the slot at 6:42, five seconds after the Giants had killed off a penalty, and then at 11:07, Ty Kolle took a short pass from Gervais and dragged the puck into the middle deep in the Giants’ zone and let go a high one that rippled the net.
The Giants poured the pressure on with some sustained attacks in the offensive zone and were rewarded with just six-tenths of a second left in the period when Fairbrother took the puck deep into the slot and found some daylight showing between the legs of Allen to reduce the deficit to 4-3.
“We had a little breakdown at the start of the second period where they got two goals but we bounced back and came back and it was a really good game all around,” said the 16-year-old Floris.
“(Saturday’s game) was definitely a heartbreaker when we lost the game and didn’t think it was a good goal but with all the emotions we bounced back today and came out with the win. We were a faster team and we played the puck more and we were in their end most of the game and buried the puck when we should have.”
Floris restored the two-goal cushion just 90 seconds into the third period, deflecting a point shot from Jonas Harkins. Allen made the save of the game six minutes into the period when the Cougars got caught leaving the zone too early and Logan Doust got the puck in front to Matteo Pecchia, who thought he had the game tied. But Allen did the splits to get across the crease in time to kick the puck out.
Thomas iced it in the last minute with an empty-netter.
The Giants double-shifted Kelowna Rockets WHL prospect Liam Kindree and whenever possible Cougars head coach Trevor Sprague threw out the line of Darian Long, Tyler Maser and Devin Sutton to try to shut down the talented left winger, who tied with DuBois for the league scoring title. Kindree, who had two goals and an assist Saturday, was held without a point Sunday.
“It was important to get up in the first 10 minutes, we stressed that. We didn’t really want the second period like we had but we were persistent in making sure we got pucks to the net and traffic to the net,” said Sprague.
“They were playing a trap the whole time and wanted to slow the whole game down and try to get turnovers and we did a good job playing against that.
“Allen did an unreal job and when we break down he makes saves. He bailed us out and kept the game where it needed to be.”
The Giants won Game 2 in double-overtime on a shot from Hunter Schandor that ticked high off the stick of Gervais and dropped over the shoulder of Cougars goalie Zach Wickson. The puck hit the post as it came down and dropped into the crease.
The referee ruled the puck crossed the line before it rolled out the opposite side behind Wickson.
On Friday, the Cougars won the series-opener 7-1.
Cougars captain Jesse Pomeroy missed Sunday’s game with a bruised neck he suffered in Saturday’s game when he got knocked off his feet and slid into the boards. It was the first game he’s missed in three years with the team. Cougars assistant coach Bryan MacLean said the 17-yearold might be ready to play Friday in the first game of the final series.
The Cougars will host the bestof-three championship series against the Greater Vancouver Canadians starting Friday at 3:15 p.m. at Kin 1.
The Canadians upset the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs 4-3 Sunday in Coquitlam to win the other semifinal series 2-1.
The Canadians finished fourth in the league with a 22-13-3-2 record, 18 points behind the second-place Chiefs (32-5-0-3), who were two points behind the Cougars (34-5-1-0).