The Cariboo Cougars exercised their BC Major Midget Final demons on Sunday with a convincing 4-0 win over the Greater Vancouver Canadians in Game 3 at Kin 1.
The Major Midget Cats got off to a fast start in the opening period beginning with a one-timer from Jeremy Gervais blowing it past GVC goalie Lucas Shaw for a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The Canadians had the Cougars on edge for most of the middle frame, but Cariboo netminder Marcus Allen was unflappable in the crease, making one big save after another.
Cariboo finally got that important two-goal lead before the end of the period when Trey Thomas banged home a loose puck in front of the GVC net, putting the home team in great shape heading into the third.
A great shift from Gervais and Daine Dubois set up a Brandon Rowley feed, giving the Cougars a 3-0 advanatage.
After some more big saves from Allen, Hunter Floris put the icing on the cake for Cariboo, scoring an empty-netter to clinch the title.
MYPGNOW caught up with Dubois during the celebration, who touched on winning it all with the 14 players who fell against the Valley West Hawks a year prior.
“It’s really special, we are a really close team and are all just best friends with eachother. That’s what it takes, you’ve got to be close and we definently are since last year’s experience was a tough one and that brought us that much closer.”
The most relieved is Head Coach and GM Trevor Sprague, who finally netted his first title with the Cariboo program.
“As you can see there is no more ape on my shoulders and I think it is something that is special, it’s special for these guys who also have the Telus Cup and it is something we planned all year long to earn our way in and we did that.”
Allen picked up the 22-save shutout for the Cougars, who now have a month off.
With the Cariboo win this weekend, the Leduc Chrysler Oil Kings gains an automatic berth into the Telus Cup, beginning April 24-30 in Prince George.
@cariboocougars are BCMML CHAMPIONS pic.twitter.com/glXYYdhQfg
— PG Cougars Fan Club (@PGCougarfanclub) March 26, 2017