The Northern Cougars of the BC Female Midget AAA Hockey League, with Williams Lake’s Chantelle Beadman-Rolph and Victoria Byer, completed a three-game sweep in Campbell River against the Vancouver Island Hurricanes from Nov. 1-2.
In its first game the Cougars, who are based out of Prince George, outpaced the Hurricanes in a 4-1 outing where the Cougars came out strong with a power play goal by Hunter Mosher and another marker from Ava Keis in the first frame.
The Cougars added to their lead with a goal from Jocelyn Forrest in the second, before Campbell River replied later in the second period with a goal.
The Cougars responded late in the period when Marissa Nichol added a marker. Assists on Cougar goals were Sage Desjardins and Ava Keis with two each, and Taylor Beck, Beadman-Rolph and 100 Mile House’s Cassidy Mellott with an assist each.
Emilie Nichols played a solid game in goal. The Cougars outshot the Hurricanes 48-14.
In game two the Cougars shutout the Hurricans, 5-0.
The Cougars again dominated play, outshooting the Hurricanes 41-14. Kelsey Roberts made key saves to earn the shutout. Desjardins led the Cougars with 2 goals and an assist. Other scorers were Beck, Forrest and Nichol. Keis tallied 3 assists, and Nichol, Grace Barlow, Mosher and Beadman-Rolph also had assists.
Game three saw the Cougars skate to a 5-1 victory.
The Hurricanes came out fast in the first period determined to get a win out of the weekend series. The Cougars got into early penalty trouble in the period resulting in a five-on-three power play for the Hurricanes, however, due to a strong goaltending performance from Roberts, the Cougars held off the Hurricanes’ attack and responded with two goals in the period by Keis and Forrest.
The Cougars played solid the rest of the game, getting goals from Keis and two from Desjardins.
Nichol had a career high four assists, and Beadman-Rolph, Sydney Jordan, Mellott and Desjardins had one assist each. Roberts had her shutout bid spoiled by the Hurricanes mid-way through the third period. The Cougars outshot the Hurricanes 32-16.
Coach Mario Desjardins was pleased with the team’s effort.
“We had a solid weekend taking all six points from the Hurricanes to widen the gap between first and second place with the Avalanche,” he said.
Next up for the Northern Cougars are three home games versus the Thompson-Okanagan Lakers from Nov. 7-9.