There's more than one cat in town.
The Prince George Cougars are getting plenty of attention, especially this year as the team finds itself on top of the standings on the Western Hockey League and especially this week after dispatching the number-one ranked major junior team in the country, the Regina Pats, 5-2 at CN Centre Tuesday night.
Guess who's ranked number one now?
As impressive as the Cougars have been so far this season (18 wins, four losses and two overtime losses), they do not have the best record of a Prince George hockey team named the Cougars.
That distinction belongs to the Cariboo Cougars of the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League. This team of 15, 16 and 17-year-olds leads their league with a sparkling record of 14 wins, one loss and one tie. They are playing like a team on a mission, which indeed they are.
There are two weeks circled on the calendar for the Cariboo Cats.
First up is the last week of the year, as the Cats head to Calgary to play in the prestigious Mac's tournament, an invite-only affair of the 25 best midget-aged teams from around the world. Two years ago, they won the Mac's with a dramatic overtime New Year's Day victory and last year, they were knocked out in the semfinal.
"You don't go there to finish second," said Cariboo Cougars head coach Trevor Sprague in reaction to the invite to this year's Mac's tournament. "We want to go there and win and represent our league and represent Canada because of the Telus Cup."
That would be the second week circled on the Cariboo Cougars calendar. The Cougars will host the Telus Cup, the Hockey Canada national midget championship, from April 24 to 30 at CN Centre.
It's safe to say Sprague and his players aren't planning to finish second at that tournament, either.
Under the tutelage of their demanding, hard-nosed coach, these young men are expected to provide the same level of commitment and professionalism seen in the junior leagues. Sprague works hard to prepare his players to make the leap from midget to junior hockey, where they will be playing 19 and 20-year-old men, from the elite major junior WHL that the Prince George Cougars play in, to the junior A level of the B.C. Hockey League, where the Prince George Spruce Kings reside, or to the junior B level.
Today, the Cariboo Cougars will take to the Kin 1 ice at 3:45 p.m. for a game against the Vancouver Northwest Giants. Cost is not an excuse for local residents and hockey fans holding back on introducing themselves to this excellent team.
Admission for this afternoon's contest is by donation, with proceeds going towards the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. The Paint the Rink Pink fundraiser will see the players wearing special pink jerseys provided by the Taba Group of Fort St. James.
Don't attend Saturday's game (or the second half of the doubleheader Sunday at 10 a.m.) expecting to see that one or two top players are behind the success of the team so far this year. As sports editor Jason Peters pointed out in his story in Friday's Citizen, the Cariboo Cougars are "doing it with depth."
The two leading scorers with the team are 19th and 20th in the league standings, despite the fact the Cariboo Cats have scored 74 goals so far this year, just three behind the two highest scoring teams. Along with scoring by committee, this squad is horribly stingy on defence, letting in just 23 goals in 16 games. That goals-against record is even more impressive when factoring in that they gave up eight goals in their only loss so far this season and they gave up three goals in the game they tied. That means they have given up just 12 goals during their 14 wins so far.
Based on their league play so far, the Cariboo Cougars don't want to just host the Telus Cup. They want to qualify for the tournament on their own merit, which means being the league champion and then beating the Alberta midget champ to win the Pacific region.
What an exciting time for hockey in Prince George, with the top-ranked major junior team in the country playing at CN Centre and a serious contender for a Telus Cup title playing next door at Kin 1.
