Confidence crushers!
That’s what the Cariboo Cougars were Friday night as they walloped the Vancouver Northwest Giants (VNW), 7-1 at Kin 1.
COUGARS WIN!!! 7-1 final in Game 1. Perepeluk pots a pair, Gervais with a goal and three helpers.
— Cariboo Cougars (@cariboocougars) March 18, 2017
The Major-Midget Cats now lead the best of three semi-final series 1-0.
Cariboo got off to a dashing start with a pair of goals in the first five minutes, courtesy of Mason Richey and Devin Sutton, sliding them past VNW goaltender Jesse Makaj.
Marcus Van Der Made cut the deficit in half late in the period, tucking home a Matteo Pecchia pass for a 2-1 score after 20 minutes.
The turning point in the game occurred early in the second period when a disallowed goal went against the Giants due to a quick whistle, keeping the Cougars lead to a single.
A tidal wave of offence followed soon after for Cariboo with three unanswered goals off the sticks of Reid Perepeluk, Jeremy Gervais, and Trey Thomas.
Cariboo continued to beat up the Giants in the third, who were missing five regulars from their line-up and were forced to dress affiliate players instead.
Perepeluk picked up his second goal of the contest along with Daine Dubois to cap off the scoring.
GOOOOOOOAAAALLLLLL !!!!! Perepeluk makes it 7-1 Cougars
— Cariboo Cougars (@cariboocougars) March 18, 2017
Quesnel’s Ty Kolle picked up two assists in the game and says they were able to slowly wear them down as the game progressed.
“I think in the first they had lots of energy because they were all fresh and were able to close down the middle of the ice and just clog it up. We had to adapt to it and utilized it to our advantage.”
Jack Graham, Zach Bolton, Ethan Reilly, Kyle Jennings, and Donovan Buskey were the injured players for VNW.
Marcus Allen made 23 saves in the net for the Cougars.
Game 2 goes on Saturday at 3:15 from Kin 1.
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–The defending champion Northern Capitals have advance to the best of 3 final in the BC Female Midget AAA hockey league.
The Caps won their semi-final in two straight by scores of 3-2 (Friday) and 4-1 (Saturday) over the Thompson-Okanagan Lakers in Vernon.
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