This is not the start of the provincial final the Cariboo Cougars had in mind.
The U18 AAA boys’ hockey club struggled their way to a 4-2 loss at the hands of the Okanagan Rockets on Friday in front of a full crowd at Kin 1.
Okanagan now leads the best-of-three final series 1-0.
The Rockets took the raucous crowd out of the game early by jumping out to a 2-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes.
Hayden Laing deflected a seeing-eye point shot that went through the wickets of Cariboo netminder and signed Seattle Thunderbirds prospect Jaxon Dikur.
Four minutes later, affiliate defenseman Will Fuhrman crashed the Cougars crease undetected, pouncing on a loose puck.
Freshly-signed Prince George Cougars prospect Jaxon Larmand banked a sharp-angle shot past Rockets goaltender Finn McKiernan trimming the deficit to 2-1.
However, a four-minute head contacting penalty to Smithers-born defenceman Ryan Richter led to a lengthy power-play heading into the third period.
Hudson Getzlaf made it 3-1 on the man-advantage as a slow-moving puck found its way to the forward and past a sprawled out Dikur.
Jake Torres added insult to injury for Okanagan extending the advantage to three goals.
Brett Peebles added a late marker for the Cougars to make it 4-2.
The Rockets outshot the Cougars 36-21. Game Two is set for tonight (Saturday) at 4:45pm from Kin 1.
If a third game is needed on Sunday it will be held at 10:45 AM.
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