The B.C. Hockey Major Midget League championship series is now a best-of-one.
The Cariboo Cougars kept their playoff title hopes alive Saturday when they beat the Greater Vancouver Canadians 2-0 at Kin 1 to tie the series at a game apiece.
Sunday’s third and deciding game starts at 9:45 a.m. at Kin 1.
The pressure was on the Cougars to come through with the win Saturday after losing the series-opener the previous day 3-2 in double overtime. Devin Sutton and Reid Perpeluk took care of the scoring and Marcus Allen stopped all 19 shots he faced to lock up the victory.
The Cougars got just what they were hoping for to start the second period – an early goal. Darian Long won the draw at centre and chipped the puck forward to Tyler Maser on the right wing. He fed it into the slot for Devin Sutton, who let go a wrister through a screen to beat goalie Lukas Shaw high to the blocker side just 16 seconds into the period.
Perepeluk’s goal came late in the second. He tracked down a loose puck that was sliding slowly across the crease behind two Canadian defenders with their backs to the play and tucked it in the open side.
The Cougars have lost on the final the past two seasons and Long said there’s no way they could settle for second-best again.
“Coming back from the tough loss (Friday) it was do or die for us,” sad Long. “With the third-year and second-year guys we know what the feeling is like losing last year and we definitely don’t want that feeling again this year. We’re doing whatever we can to get that ‘W’ and get the trophy in our hands.”
Allen wasn’t overly busy, facing just 19 shots, but he was the reason the Canadians’ celebration parade remained stuck in neutral. He made two tough saves late in the first period to help kill off a 5-on-3 disadvantage that went on for nearly two minutes. He robbed Daniel Pearson on a quick setup from Scott Atkinson, getting just enough of the puck to deflect it away.
The Cougars finished with a 29-19 shot advantage.
“That 5-on-3 definitely was a game-changer for us, we got a lot of momentum off of it,” said the 17-year-old Long. “We really want to stay out of the box, their power play is pretty good but our PK is stellar. Not many teams can score against it. Marcus came up big when we needed him. When we need those saves, he’s got our backs.”
Right after Sutton opened the scoring, Allen slid across the crease to get his leg in front of sharp-angle shot from Canadians defenceman Michael Tersigni. Then with seven minutes gone in the second period Allen bailed out his teammates after a turnover with a standup save to deny Noah Kelly, and a minute later stopped Pearson on a partial breakaway.
“It was back-and-forth hockey, which is what you would expect for a championship series,” said Canadians head coach Phil Alalouf. “Allan played outstanding today and Shaw was outstanding but we just couldn’t bury it.
“We have to move the puck faster on the 5-on-3. If think if the 5-on-3 was later in the game it would have been a little bit different; sometimes it takes the power play a while to get going.”
Neither team scored with the man advantage. The Cougars went 0-for-5 while Vancouver was held scoreless on five opportunities. The Canadians had sustained pressure in the Cougars’ end late in the game but the Cougar penalty-killers did their jobs, blocking shots, getting sticks in the passing lanes and using muscle power to keep the Canadians out of the high-percentage scoring areas.
“Our PK was huge, especially at the end of the game there, we only got caught standing around a little bit,” said Cougars head coach Trevor Sprague. “The too many men (penalty) was a bit tough, especially after we killed one off, but the guys champed through it and went on.
“Our veteran guys came in here, our 17-year-olds, and really pushed the way and they were our best players and they need to do that (Sunday). The energy we had on the bench and the maturity showed throughout our lineup and if they can do that again (Sunday) they should be B.C. champions.”
Canadians forward Henry Rybinski went down with an apparent head injury 15 minutes into the second period when he ducked to avoid in a collision with Maser just inside the Cougars’ zone. As he went down, his head ran into Maser’s thigh. Rybinski got back to the bench under his own steam but collapsed and was seen to by medical staff on both teams. He was taken to hospital after the game.
If the Cougars win today, as hosts of the Telus Cup national midget championship they will not play the Alberta league winners in a best-of-three regional series. The Cougars would then take on the host slot and Alberta would be the Pacific representative.
If the Canadians win, they will play Alberta in a best-of-three series to determine the Pacific championship. In that case, the Canadians and Cougars would be among the six teams playing for the national title.
