Cariboo Cougars double up Okanagan to force Game 3 of Final Series

Staring elimination square in the face, the Cariboo Cougars refused to lay down and die on home ice.

Riley Lettington’s game-winning goal at 11:37 of the third period gave the U18 Cougars a massive 4-2 victory on Saturday in front of a full house at Kin 1 to even the BC Elite Hockey League’s best-of-three final series against the Okanagan Rockets.

PG Cougars signed prospect Jaxon Larmand drew first blood for Cariboo on the power-play slithering into the slot and firing a shot past Rockets goaltender Finn McKiernan.

Dion Schraeder evened the score for Okanagan on a scramble play inside the Cougars zone. A failed clearing attempt allowed Schraeder to turn and fire a puck past the glove hand of Andrik Lygas.

Cariboo continued to ramp up the offensive pressure in the middle period but it would be the timely goaltending of McKiernan that kept the score even, robbing Jack Tidsbury Ben Fofonoff and Rylan Bissett on breakaways.

Nicholas Gordon finally solved the Rockets goalie as he tipped a head man pass into the goal courtesy of captain Grady Gustafson putting the Cats back in the driver’s seat.

After weathering through some penalty trouble including a Ryan Richter double-minor and a five-on-three, Lettington capitalized on a Blake Collison effort that created some open ice for the Quesnel-born forward.

Okanagan refused to go away quietly, as Brayden Westman blew a snapshot under the crossbar past Lygas to make the score 3-2 with eight minutes remaining.

With the goalie pulled in the final two minutes, Bissett iced the game with a long-range empty netter to force a third and deciding game on the Olympic-sized ice at Kin 1.

Cariboo outshot Okanagan 33-29. Lygas made 27 saves in the victory.

Game 3 is set for Sunday morning at 10:45 AM. The winner of this game will advance to the Pacific Regionals, a final qualifier for the Telus Cup set for April 21-27 in Abbotsford.

The Regional series is being hosted by Alberta this year and will either be the Calgary Pacific Projects Northwest Flames or the Sherwood Park Ennis Kings.

Calgary took Game 1 of the best-of-five final series against the Kings 4-2 on Friday with Game 2 set for today (Sunday) in Sherwood Park.