After one sub-standard season, the Cariboo Cougars are back in their usual place in the upper echelons of the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League standings.
In fact, heading into a pair of home games this weekend against the South Island Royals, the Cougars find themselves at the very top of the 11-team MML. They own an 8-1-1 record and their 17 points are one more than the second-place Vancouver Northwest Giants.
The Giants (8-0-0) have had a bye weekend already so they have played two fewer games. The Cats will square off against their closest rival Nov. 15-16 in Prince George and will get their bye the following weekend.
But, right now, they are No. 1. To date, the Cougars have outscored their opponents 47-24 and have three of the league's top 10 point-getters in Austin Gray, Darren Hards and Colton Thomas.
This season's success comes on the heels of a 2013-14 campaign that saw a young and rebuilding Cougars team finish sixth overall with a record of 17-21-2.
And boy, was that mark ever uncharacteristic of the organization.
Evidence? Well, in the preceding seven seasons, the Cats had four second-place finishes, two fourth-place finishes and one first-place result. During that stretch of time, they compiled an overall record of 184-74-22.
It's no accident that, year after year, the 15- to 17-year-old Cougars are one of the best teams in the MML. One of the biggest reasons is scouting. Trevor Sprague and his staff members don't just sit around on their backsides and wait for the talent to flow into Prince George. Instead, each off-season, they rack up the kilometres on their personal vehicles, going from northern town to northern town to meet with prospective players and their parents. This summer, that work was done by Sprague - the team's general manager and co-coach - and by co-coach Bryan MacLean and former assistant Mike Matthies, who now lives in Victoria.
As a result of the yearly road trips, the Cougars are stocked with elite players from not only Prince George but from throughout the northern region. On this year's club, there are players from the communities of Williams Lake, Likely, Quesnel, Dawson Creek, Kitimat, Smithers and Hazelton.
When it comes to loading up the 20-man roster, Sprague puts it quite simply: "For you not to have a good team in northern British Columbia means you're lazy," he said. "For me, it's not about being lazy, it's about making sure we've got the best players possible."
Last year's club - which still made the playoffs, by the way - had good regional representation but was inexperienced at the major midget level because of the number of players who graduated to junior hockey at the end of 2012-13.
Once Sprague and company have their players in uniform, the first thing those skaters and goalies are told about is expectations - in other words, the requirements that must be met in order to be a member of the team. They are informed, for example, that off-ice conduct is just as important as on-ice performance. And on game day, regardless of how strong or weak the opponent is, being a Cougar means it's all business.
"It's the Cariboo Cougar way - it's reaching that excellence," Sprague said. "We're not just playing to be good, we're not just playing to be great. It's a part of our culture to be excellent at what we do and that's the biggest statement I can give [the players]."
With Sprague at the helm, the Cariboo club is run like a top-flight junior program. Truthfully, there are junior teams in Canada that could take a lesson.
For the Cougars, the ultimate goal has always been the same - to win the Telus Cup national midget championship. The next edition of the Telus Cup is April 20-26, 2015, in Rivire-du-Loup, Que.
In 10 previous seasons, a berth in the national tournament has eluded the Cats. The closest they came (under the guidance of former head coach Grant Williams) was an MML playoff title in 2008 and a subsequent loss to the Calgary Buffaloes in the Pacific regional final. The Buffaloes won the best-of-three series two games to one, including a 3-1 decision in Game 3.
One of these years, the Cougars will probably get their shot at that Canadian crown.
Do things right and do them long enough, and the reward typically follows.
