Sometimes the best laid plans go awry.
Just ask the U17 Cariboo Cougars. After a solid regular season, the Cougars were upset in round one of their best-of-three quarterfinal series against the Valley West Giants.
A pair of first period goals from Graham Wendel and Ethan Dumielie paced the Giants to a 3-0 game three victory on Sunday at Kin 1.
Wendel sniped a wrist shot over the glove of Cariboo netminder Brennan Purych for a 1-0 lead.
Dumielie’s goal came shorthanded after a misplay by two Cariboo players behind the net.
Nathan Stuehmer added the empty-net marker for Valley West with roughly two minutes remaining in regulation.
Luc Wilson Kurenoff was stellar once again in net for the Giants making all 30 stops for the shutout.
In Game 2, Cariboo staved off elimination with a whopping 6-0 win on Saturday evening.
Sawyer Latkowski lit the lamp 14 seconds into the contest past Giants netminder Lukas Lam.
Cariboo added four more goals in the second, two of which came off the stick of Gavin Parmar while Brody Bustard and Cooper Kursteiner added singles to make it 5-0 after 40 minutes.
Rhys Barnes found a way to solve Lam late in the third accepting a Morgan Reed pass to extend the series to a third game.
Purych made 28 saves for the clean sheet.
The series opener saw Ethan Manan become the Game 1 hero as his rocket of a slap shot blew over the shoulder of Purych, rippling the mesh for a 3-2 overtime triumph.
Liam Elstad opened the scoring for Cariboo as his point shot found a way through traffic to beat Kurenoff for a 1-0 lead after the first period.
In the second, Shay Peters evened the score for the Giants accepting a Wendel feed that beat Purych.
Both teams traded goals in the third period.
Jason Shergill curled and dragged past a Cariboo defender and wired one past Purych to give Valley West a 2-1 lead with 10:55 remaining.
With the goalie pulled, Bustard evened the score at 2-2 with 50 seconds left as his back hand shot from close range beat Wilson Kurenoff forcing the game to overtime.
Cariboo outshot Valley West 43-40 – however, Kurenoff turned aside 41 Cougar shots in the win.
Valley West advances to the second round and faces off against the Vancouver Northwest Hawks while the other semi will see the Vancouver NE Chiefs lock horns against the Thompson Blazers.
In addition, the U15 Cariboo Cougars season came to an end Saturday in the semi-finals against the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds dropping a 3-2 decision in overtime in Langley.
Volodymyr Sezonenko’s game winner at 4:56 of overtime was the difference maker, spoiling a masterful goalie performance from Cougars netminder Jayden Avery who made 46 saves in defeat.
Noah Carignan opened the scoring for Fraser Valley at 5:01 of the second period, giving the T-Birds a 1-0 edge after 40 minutes.
Warner Callander and Ryland Lemp scored twice six minutes apart to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead. Marcus Milin tied it up with 1:09 remaining to force overtime.
Earlier in the day, Cariboo skated to a 7-3 win over the Valley West Giants in the quarter-finals.
Hendrick Hesselgrave and Trysten Schmidt scored twice each while Taylor McKay, Max Pellegrino, Ryland Lemp added singles.
The U15 Cougars won by an identical 7-3 score in Friday’s win against the Greater Vancouver Canadians. Cariboo split their first two matchups on Thursday.
A 4-3 win against the Vancouver NE Chiefs was followed up by a 3-2 defeat against the eventual league champion Okanagan Rockets.
The U18 Cariboo Cougars begin their first-round matchup against the Valley West Giants on Friday at 4:15pm in Kin 1.
Game 2 is set for Saturday at 3:45pm while Sunday, if necessary, would go at 9am. All games are in Kin 1.
Lastly, the Northern Capitals under-18 female team is getting set for their best-of-three Survivor Series matchup against the Vancouver Island Seals.
Game 1 on Friday goes at 7pm from Kin 2.
Game two is scheduled for 5:45pm on Saturday followed by an early 7:30am puck drop on Sunday if need be.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
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