The Cariboo Cougars have reached two of their goals this season.
They won the acclaimed Mac's Midget tournament on New Year's Day in Calgary and then clinched first place in the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League in the second half of the season.
Now the quest to accomplish their third goal - qualifying for the Telus Cup, the national midget championship - begins Friday (5 p.m., Kin 1) when the Cougars host the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds in the first game of a best-of-three quarterfinal playoff series.
The Cougars finished atop the league with a record of 29-8-3 and 61 points, while the Abbotsford-based Thunderbirds were eighth at 17-18-5 and 45 points.
"We can't take anything away from them, we were down 5-2 (Feb. 8 in Abbotsford) going into the third and came back and lost 7-6," said Cougars co-coach and general manager Trevor Sprague. "That was huge for us."
The Cougars wrapped up the regular season last weekend in Kelowna with a 4-2 loss and a 4-4 tie against the Okanagan Rockets.
"In that 4-2 loss (Saturday), we played good, and we outshot them 39-25," said Sprague. "That's what we've done the last six games is give up the first couple goals and then bounce back. Okanagan had four opportunities to score and they scored on all four. We had opportunities to score and we didn't. It wasn't for a lack of effort.
"On Sunday (4-4 tie) we were down 4-1 going into the third and we had two disallowed goals. We got behind and we pushed back. It showed good character and we outshot them 40-20."
After losing only two games in the first half of the season and capping it with the Mac's title, the Cougars lost six games in the second half of the season.
Sprague admits it was tough on the coaching staff to keep the team focused after winning the Mac's, and the Cats' opposition had incentive to beat the team that won the title.
"We were undisciplined at times and we didn't respond," said Sprague. "On the flip side, that's created adversity which is a good thing. In the last five to six games, we've given up the first two goals and we've had to play catch-up."
The playoffs though are a different beast as Sprague and the staff have dangled the Telus Cup (in Riviere-du-Loup, Que.) carrot in front of the players for extra motivation.
"Our 17-year-olds are now going to step up and the special teams will have to do their job," said Sprague. "The playoffs are no excuses for mistakes. We will have to have execution, game structure and good leadership. Do we want to go to Quebec? We have to play like we want to be there. We have reached two of our goals this season, now we have something else to play for."
The Cougars will have goaltender Dorrin Luding and forward Justin Almeida back in the lineup this weekend after they helped Team B.C. to a sixth-place finish at the Canada Winter Games last weekend in Prince George.
Game 2 is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. at Kin 1, while Game 3, if necessary, is at 10 a.m. Sunday at Kin 1.
Other quarterfinals include the second-place Vancouver Northwest Giants hosting the seventh-place South Island Royals in Burnaby, the third-place Vancouver Northeast Chiefs hosting the sixth-place Valley West Hawks in Port Coquitlam and the fourth-place Okanagan Rockets hosting the fifth-place Greater Vancouver Canadians in Kelowna.
