An exciting pair of games at Kin 1 ended up in a split for the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds and Cariboo Cougars in U17 action in the BC Elite Hockey League.
During Saturday’s Pink in the Rink Night, a power-play goal by Liam Shea was difference, giving the Thunderbirds a 3-2 victory.
Both teams traded goals in the opening 20 minutes as Jovan Sangha opened the scoring for Fraser Valley while Garrett Harrop replied for Cariboo.
Harrop delivered his second goal of the contest on the man-advantage burying a Brett De Gans pass to give the U17 Cougars a 2-1 edge.
Hudson Anderson evened the score for the Thunderbirds, also on the power-play assisted by Connor Mackenzie.
Cougars forward Sawyer Latkowski received a major penalty for spitting and was handed a three-game suspension for the infraction.
Cariboo outshot the Thunderbirds 31-28. Mason Sutherland picked up the win in goal for Fraser Valley while Brennan Purych took the loss for the Cougars.
On Sunday, defense was optional as Cariboo roared back with a 6-4 victory.
The U17 Cougars carried a 3-2 lead after the first period courtesy of markers from Brody Bustard, Taryn Willis and Garrett Harrop.
Sangha and Drew Holek replied for the Thunderbirds.
In the second, the offense was still rampant as a point shot by Morgan Reed found the back of the Thunderbird cage past goalie Bentley Edgar.
Three minutes later, Jake Giroux answered back following a missed clear by Cariboo, trimming the deficit to 4-3.
Gavin Parmar (Cariboo) and Jakob Kittles (Fraser Valley) traded goals for their respective sides later in the period.
Prior to intermission, Willis extended the Cariboo lead to a pair for a third time as his slapshot popped the water bottle off the net and went top shelf.
Tavon Peterson was named the game’s first star with four assists as the U17 Cougars improve to 10-2-1 tied for top spot with the Thompson Blazers (10-5-1) in the nine-team league with three games in hand.
The U17’s begins a stretch of six straight road games this weekend in Kamloops against the Blazers Saturday (6:30pm) and Sunday (1:15pm).
In U18 Female AAA action, the Northern Capitals swept a weekend double-header in Vancouver Island against the Seals, skating to identical 4-0 victories.
On Saturday, Paxton Fraser scored the game-winner on the power-play at 7:14 of the first period assisted by Quesnel product and NAIT commit Tylor Jensen.
In the second, Lucy Lafontaine added to the Capitals lead finishing off a three-way scoring play that included rookies Khya Swanson and Claire Johnson.
Reese Overton and Jenna Van Angeran picked up singles in the third to ice the game. For Van Angeran it was her first tally in the BCEHL.
Taylor Rutter also collected her first league shutout.
In the back half of the double-header, the Capitals jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead thanks to goals from Fraser, Johana Ketter and Claire Johnson.
The Capitals outshot the Seals 27-3 in the first period and 55-13 overall.
Ketter added her second of the game in the third period. Kenzie Bragg also collected her first BCEHL shut out.
The Capitals improve to 5-6-1 and are off this week. They return to action November 15th and 16th with a pair of home games against the Thompson Okanagan Lakers in Kin 2. Puck drop is at 5:45 pm (Saturday) and 8am (Sunday).
In U15 action, the Cariboo Cougars dropped a pair of close shaves to the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds, losing 4-3 (Saturday) and 4-2 (Sunday).
Fraser Valley built up a 3-1 lead after two periods in the weekend opener only to see the Cougars tied it courtesy of Warner Callender and Trysten Schmidt.
Noah Kellyn Carignan notched the game winner for the Thunderbirds with six minutes remaining.
Carignan scored his first tally in the opening frame while Owen Hungar and Dominic Clark added singles for the Thunderbirds.
Madden Weldon lit the lamp on the power-play for Cariboo in the second period.
On Sunday, Fraser Valley scored three unanswered goals in the middle frame to sin the U15 Cats.
Clark scored twice while Boston Erler added the other goal.
Cariboo held a 2-1 lead after the first period courtesy of Schmidt and Taylor McKay.
Nathan Evans replied for Fraser Valley.
The Cougars drop to 6-6-0 while the Thunderbirds soar to 10-1-0-0. Cariboo is off until November 22nd (1:30pm Kin 1) and 23rd (7am CN Centre) when they host the Greater Vancouver Canadians.
Lastly, the U18 Cariboo Cougars finished fourth out of eight teams at the Rink Hockey Classic in Vernon.
Cariboo picked up overtime wins against the Leduc Oil Kings, Calgary Buffaloes and Okanagan Rockets.
The Cougars fell 3-0 in the bronze medal game on Sunday against the Red Deer Chiefs, the same team they fell too in the round-robin.
Prince George Cougar prospects Jaxon Larmand and Kadric Mujcin finished second and fifth in tournament scoring.
Cariboo (6-3-1) sits third in the eight-team league and travels to Burnaby this weekend to play the Vancouver NE Chiefs (8-2-0).
VNE is three points up on the Cougars for second place.
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