Back on the winning track.
After a few close losses, the U17 AAA Cariboo Cougars put forth a pair of solid efforts over the weekend, culminating in two victories against the Greater Vancouver Canadians in Kin 1.
Sawyer Latkowski’s game-winning goal in overtime propelled Cariboo to a thrilling 3-2 win over GVC Saturday night.
The Canadians opened the scoring in the first period as Zacary Prokop found the back of the net on Cougars goaltender Caleb Sandberg.
Tavon Peterson evened the score for Cariboo in the middle period. Both teams traded power-play goals in the third as Robert Flic (GVC) and Brody Bustard (Cariboo) scored for their respective sides.
The story of the game was the performance of Canadians goaltender Josh Read who made 37 saves in the loss and was named first star.
On Sunday, Cariboo dominated from start to finish coasting to a 6-1 triumph to complete the weekend sweep.
Andrew Ludwig and Brett De Gans found the back of the net to give the U17 Cougars a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
In the second, Cariboo extended the advantage to 4-0 as Morgan Reed blasted a loose puck past GVC netminder Wilfred Hogan.
Nigel Nitschke lit the lamp after sticking a loose puck past the goaltender on a broken play.
Greater Vancouver finally got on the board late in the frame as Maxwell Clemens deflected a point-shot from Brian Woolfenden on the power—play.
Nitschke added his second of the game while Cooper Kursteiner tallied a single in the third to salt the game away for the 14-6-0-1 Cougars.
Cariboo remains two points back of the Thompson Blazers for top spot in the nine-team BC Elite Hockey League with three games in hand.
The U17 AAA Cougars continue a six-game homestand Saturday (6:30pm) and Sunday 9am from Kin 1 against the Valley West Giants (8-8-1-2).
GVC drops to 8-13-3-0 on the campaign.
In U18 AAA action, the Cariboo Cougars took three out of a possible four points on the road.
A 6-1 win on Saturday was followed up a by 4-3 overtime defeat on Sunday at the hands of the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds.
Cariboo scored five unanswered goals in the last two periods on Saturday to secure the convincing victory.
Colton Campbell notched the game-winner at 10:40 of the second period courtesy of a Ty Maloney pass.
Maloney, Miller Tedesco, Jaxon Larmand and Nicholas Gordon padded the Cariboo lead in the third.
Both teams were tied 1-1 after the opening 20 minutes with Larmand and Riley Green (T-Birds) trading singles.
On Sunday, the U18 AAA Cougars stormed out to a 3-0 lead only to see evaporate into thin air.
Campbell, Blake Lambe and Carter Krueger paced Cariboo to the strong start lighting the lamp once each.
Wyatt Van Tongeren trimmed the deficit to 3-1 giving the host Thunderbirds a sliver of hope.
Zachary Herfst and Lukas Cho evened the score seven minutes apart in the third to even the score at 3-3.
Tristan Anderlini was the hero for the T-Birds notching the game-winning goal in overtime with the assist going to Dane Nickel.
Cariboo is 9-6-2 on the season, third place in the seven-team league while Fraser Valley sits with a mark of 5-10-2-1.
The U18 AAA Cougars are back on the road this weekend against the Vancouver North West Hawks Saturday at 6pm and Sunday at 11am from the Canlan Arena.
The U15 AAA Cariboo Cougars (9-7-0-0) were off on a bye this weekend and are back in action against the Vancouver Northwest Hawks (3-9-0-2) Saturday (3:45pm) and Sunday (11:45 AM) from Kin 1.
Lastly, the Northern Capitals (8-9-0-1) U18 Female AAA club were also off over the weekend.
They will play their last two games prior to the Christmas break this weekend against the Greater Vancouver Comets (11-4-0-0).
Puck drop is at 8:15pm on Saturday and 10:45am on Sunday. Games will be played at Planet Ice in Coquitlam and the Scotia Barn in Burnaby.
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