It wasn’t always pretty but the Cariboo Cougars took care of business on home ice.
The U18 triple-a Cats trounced the last-place Thompson Blazers over the weekend by scores of 6-2 (Saturday) and 10-2 (Sunday) to maintain their one-point edge atop the BC Elite Hockey League standings.
Miller Tedesco, Nicholas Gordon and Rylan Bissett all notched a pair of goals during the Sunday matinee.
The win was briefly soured by a last-second hit by Smithers product and defenseman Carson Brookes who torpedoed himself into Blazers forward Jagger Hiebert resulting in a major penalty.
Cariboo held leads of 2-1 and 5-1 before a five-goal explosion in the third.
Brett Peebles, Jaxsen Larmond, Carter Krueger and Jack Tidsbury added singles for the Cats.
Linden Delleman and Carter Biggs scored in defeat for the Blazers who sit last in the BCEHL.
Seattle Thunderbirds signed prospect Jaxson Dikur of Williams Lake collected the win in net.
On Saturday, the Blazers gave the Cougars all they kind handle through 40 minutes scraping out a 2-2 tie but were outmatched in the final twenty minutes with Cariboo scoring four unanswered goals.
The first half of the double-header was also the first Teddy Bear Toss game for Cariboo.
Bissett sent the bears flying following a power-play goal less than five minutes into period one.
Prince George Cougars prospect Ryan Richter fired home his second of the season to double the Cariboo advantage after 20 minutes.
Delleman and Kieran Milne responded for Thompson in the second frame.
In the third, Cariboo blew the game open courtesy of two third-period markers from Tidsbury, Lucas Woodbeck and Beau Murray.
Andrik Lygas collected the victory inside the Cariboo cage. Cassius Ford took both weekend loss in the Blazers net.
Cariboo enters the Christmas break with a record of 17-3-1-1 but will have little time to rest as they leave for the Circle K Classic in Calgary on Boxing Day before facing off against Sioux Falls in their first round-robin game Friday at 9 am Pacific.
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In female triple-a action, the Northern Capitals righted a few wrongs on Sunday morning earning a split against the Thompson Okanagan Lakers, following a 4-0 shutout victory.
Maddy Neish notched two goals in the win. Gabriella Meier and Nicole Bateman also lit the lamp.
Payton Planetta had a rebound effort culminating in a 20-save shutout.
Planetta struggled in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Lakers allowing four goals on 22 Laker shots.
Neish scored in defeat for the Caps. Since returning from the Okanagan Hockey Academy, the Prince Rupert product has four goals and one assist in five games.
The Capitals who enter the holiday break with a mark of 9-8-0-1 travel to the Lower Mainland to play against the top-ranked Greater Vancouver Comets January 11th and 12th in New Westminster and Coquitlam.
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