The Kootenay Major Midget Ice split a pair of games with the BC Major Midget League leading Prince George Cougars on the weekend.
The Ice rebounded from a 7-1 drubbing on Saturday, to defeat the Cougars 7-5 on Sunday at the Kinsman Arena in Prince George.
The Ice squandered a 5-2 third-period lead, as the Cougars roared back to tie it with three straight goals. But with 5:02 to play Shawn Campbell of Castlegar would beat the Prince George goalie to make it 6-5, and Fruitvale’s Aiden Browell would ice it with an empty netter with just over a minute remaining.
Cranbrook forward Korbyn Chabot opened the scoring, tallying his first of two on the night at 15:52 to give the Ice a 1-0 lead. After Prince George tied it at 4:47 of the first, four straight second period goals by Kootenay’s Kadrian Klimchuk, Chabot, Trail’s Evan Gorman, and Brendan Makay of Rossland would put the Ice up 5-1. However, the Cougars would mount the comeback at 1:07 of the second when Justin Almeida scored his first of two on the night. Wesley Shipton would make it 5-3 at 15:57, and Almeida would cut the lead to one three minutes later. Brendan Moore netted a short-handed goal to tie it 5-5 with 8:22 remaining, but the Ice would withstand Prince George’s offensive juggernaut led by the league’s second top scorer Austin Gray, and kill a late penalty for its fifth win of the season.
The Cougars proved to be one of the most elite midget teams in the world upon winning the Macs AAA Midget Hockey Tournament in Calgary in January, and after raising the banner to the Kinsman rafters on Saturday, the Cougars skated to a 7-1 win over Kootenay.
The Ice return to action this weekend at the Nelson Community Rec Complex to faceoff against the seventh place, 16-15-2, South Island Royals on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and Sunday at 8 a.m.