The Cariboo Cougars bounced back in dominant fashion after they dropped the first game of a weekend doubleheader against the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds.
At Kin 2 on Saturday, the Cougars fell 3-1 to the Thunderbirds but, the next day on Olympic-sized ice at Kin 1, they skated to a 6-0 victory. In the B.C. Hockey Major Bantam League, the Cats now sit at 7-9-0-2, a mark that has them fifth out of eight teams. The T-birds are in third spot at 8-8-1-1.
In the opening game, the Cats trailed 2-1 going into the third period and weren’t able to find an equalizer. The Thunderbirds iced the contest with an empty-net goal by Evan Alfred Dyer with 52 seconds to play.
Dayton James Bruce Abbott of the Thunderbirds and Ryan Toor of the Cougars exchanged first-period goals and Nathan Prodanuk got what proved to be the winner on a second-period power play.
Jonathan Mao was the winning goaltender and Jaiden Jakubowski took the loss.
In the rematch, Damien Knackstedt was unbeatable in the Cariboo nets and, in front of him, the offence was clicking. Caleb Poitras and affiliated player Cameron Schmidt each scored twice for the Cougars, while Carter Hesselgrave and Joshua Mantler added singles. The Cats led 2-0 after the first period and tacked on the other four goals in the third.
The Cougars are now finished with league play until after Christmas. They’ll see their next league action when they host the first-place Okanagan Rockets on Jan. 11-12. The Rockets have gone 16-0-1-1 so far this season.
The North Central bantam double-A Bobcats were also on the ice this past weekend. They suited up in Kamloops and lost 7-2 and 4-1 to OMAHA Thompson Zone. The Bobcats (2-11-1-0) will play their next league games Jan. 18-19 in Prince George against East Kootenay (5-3-1-0).