The Prairie Hockey Academy Cougars won’t be playing for a medal at the Dave King Elite U15 Invitational, but a win in their final game Sunday morning would be sweet nonetheless.
The Cougars posted a 1-2 record in the round robin through the eight-team event currently underway at the Barkman Arena in Caronport and will play in the fifth-place consolation game at 10:30 a.m. against Pacific Coast Hockey Academy.
PHA opened the event with a 7-2 loss to the North Shore Warriors Prep on Thursday before falling 6-5 to the West Central Wheat Kings on Friday and picking up a 7-4 win over the Minot Wolves on Saturday.
It was a tough start for the Cougars on Friday, as North Shore scored a pair in the first and led 4-1 through two before pulling away in the final frame.
Zander Watson had a goal and an assist for PHA, while Soren Hayden had their other goal. Luke Ratzlaff had 24 saves in net.
Chase Vossenaar had a hat trick for the Warriors while Kayden Runstedler had two goals and four points. Peter Banicevic and Nash Dickson had single goals, Oscar Hicik stopped 46 shots for the win.
It was a heartbreaker on Friday for PHA, as Kaine Thiessen scored shorthanded -- and his fourth of the game -- with 6:34 to play to give West Central the win.
Nixon Friesen had a goal and two points for the Cougars, Alexandre Pirot, Luke Pratte, Ramsey Thompson and Kashton Smith had their other markers. Brady Robert had 30 saves.
Darien Lowe and Taylor Neumeier had the other goals for West Central, Emeri Cowie had 35 stops.
Things didn’t look very good for PHA heading into the third period against Minot thanks to a 4-0 deficit, but three goals in four minutes early in the period and four goals in the final 5:38 made for an impressive comeback.
Friesen, Ason Apesis and Brady Vipond all had a goal and two points in the period, while Watson, Max Craig, Aaron Kowalyk and Reg Huebner scored once each. Hayden picked up three assists, and Ratzlaff stopped 14 shots to earn the win.
Riley Bouchard, Brady Grosz, Henrik Holt and Paxton Packulak scored for Minot, Luke Richeson stopped 23 shots.
North Shore and West Central finished tied for first in Pool A at 2-1 and advance to the playoff round, with Northern Alberta Extreme and Notre Dame taking the top two spots in Pool B.
The seventh-place game between Minot and Pilot Mound goes at 8 a.m., Sunday followed by the PHA and PCHA fifth-place game. The gold medal game goes at 2 p.m. at the Barkman Arena.
