Cariboo Cats prepare for midget final
If all goes according to plan, the Cariboo Cougars will have Marcus Allen back in the lineup Friday night.
They’re going to need him stopping pucks to be at their best when they take on the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds in Game 1 of the best-of-three B.C. Hockey Major Midget League final at Kin 1.
Allen has been the go-to guy in net all season for the defending BCHMML champions but it’s not that can’t win without him. Ryan Buchan proved that last Saturday when he gave up just one goal in a 2-1 overtime win over the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs which put the Cougars into the final round for the fourth straight season.
But with Allen on the ice, the Cougars have looked unstoppable in their run to a secondstraight league title. The 17-year-old Prince George native compiled a 23-4-3 record in 32 of the 40 regular season games, posting a 2.32 goals-against average (second-best in the league) and he’s been even more miserly in the playoffs.
In nearly three complete games leading up to the knee injury that sidelined him with about five minutes left in Game 1 of the series with the Chiefs, Allen’s goals-against average is 1.03 - lowest of all the league’s playoff goalies.
“It was just a bit of sprain, so he’s worked that through this week and he’ll get a full practice in, I hope, (Thursday) but that’s up to (goalie coach) Lyman Miller and the staff to see how much they push him,” said Cougars general manager Trevor Sprague.
The Cougars (307-3-0) finished second in the league standings, 11 points ahead of the third-place Thunderbirds (25-13-1-1).
“Both teams have good scoring and with Marcus being healthy and with their guys being healthy I think both teams have good goaltending and I think it’s going to come down to special teams,” said Sprague. “Both teams are good on the PK and the power play and both teams will have to be disciplined and play good two-way hockey game as well. Whoever’s special teams are best and can capitalize 5-on-5 will probably win our series.”
In the season, the Cougars averaged 15 penalty minutes per game, tied for third-lowest in the league, while Fraser Valley averaged 19 minutes in the box, third-most in the 11-team league.
The Thunderbirds have the top two scorers in the playoffs so far in Matthew Konrad (3g-9a12pts in five games) and Gage Goncalves (5-611). Goncalves finished second in the scoring race with 30 goals and 71 points in 40 games. The Cougars can counter with Craig MacDonald (1-9-10 in four games), Mason Richey (4-4-8) and Hunter Floris (4-2-6), who rank 4-5-6 in playoff scoring.
T-birds goalie Dawson Pelletier has a 3-1 record and 1.61 goals-against average in the playoffs.
The Thunderbirds are coming off a three-game semifinal win in Langley over the Vancouver Northwest Giants.
Fraser Valley lost the opener 4-3, then eliminated the Giants with back-to-back wins, 5-1 and 8-2. They swept the Greater Vancouver Canadians in the opening round.
The Cougars opened the playoffs defeating the Thompson Blazers, 9-1 and 2-1.
Cariboo won three of the four games against the T-birds in the regular season. They beat Fraser Valley 4-3 on Nov. 11 at Kin 1, then lost 7-2 the following day. Then in February in Abbotsford the Cougars won both games, 6-5 and 6-3.
Sprague, who gave up the head coaching duties for this season to Tyler Brough, said he’s liked what he’s seen watching his team this week in practice.
“The guys look really good, and the confidence we have is good,” said Sprague. “We have a lot of respect for the Thunderbirds, them being the first time into this (final) round – they’ve never been here before.”
The first two games of the series are scheduled for 7:15 p.m. starts, which means the Cougars and T-birds will be playing while the Spruce Kings are hosting the opening two games of their B.C. Hockey League third-round series against the Powell River Kings at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
The Cougars tried to avoid the scheduling conflict so hockey fans in the city could watch both playoff series but due to the aboriginal youth hockey tournament this weekend the team decided it would be less disruptive for the tournament schedule if the midget games were scheduled at night.
“We could have if we wanted to play earlier, but with the aboriginal tournament being on it was tough with them having 59 teams to squeeze in there, and if we go into triple-overtime it kind of sucks for the tournament,” said Sprague.
If a third game is needed, that would be played Sunday at 10:15 a.m. at Kin 1.
The Cougars will be without forward Brandon Rowley, who had six goals and 25 points in 40 regular season games. He’s out with a shoulder injury he suffered last Friday.
Because the Cougars hosted the Telus Cup national midget championship and did not play a regional series last year, B.C. retains the hosting duties for the Pacific regional championship, a best-of-three series next weekend against the Alberta champions, either the Lethbridge Hurricanes of Knights of Columbus (Edmonton) Pats.
That best-of-three series will either be played at Kin 1 or in Abbotsford. The winner will advance to the Telus Cup in Sudbury, Ont., April 23-29.
The guys look really good, and the confidence we have is good.
— Trevor Sprague, general manager