The Prairie Hockey Academy Cougars got off to the start they were hoping for at the Canadian Sport School Hockey League Midget Varsity championships in Penticton, B.C. this past weekend.
The Cougars opened the event with a 3-2 overtime win over Okanagan Hockey Academy on Saturday before hammering out an 11-1 win over Pursuit of Excellence in their lone Sunday game.
The two wins mean PHA will finish on top of their pool and advance to the semifinals on Tuesday.
Tanner Funk scored the game winner 2:14 into overtime against Okanagan as the Cougars opened the event with a key win. Noah Schindel and Alex Nieman also scored for PHA, as they found themselves tied 1-1 after the first and 2-2 through two.
Riley Gross turned aside 32 shots to pick up the win in goal, the Cougars fired 43 shots at Okanagan.
There were no such dramatic necessary in their second contest against Kelowna’s Pursuit of Excellence, as PHA scored three times in the first, made it 6-1 through two periods and kept right on going with another five goals in the third.
The CSSHL Midget Varsity regular season scoring leaders were in full effect in the win, as scoring champion Noah Wills scored twice and added five assists, Jaedon Little had three goals and three assists and Keagon Little scored twice and added four helpers. Kolby Kaban had a goal and two assists while Schindel, Joshua Prebushweski and Colton Aikens all had single markers.
Josh Warkentin was the winning goaltender with 33 saves, PHA had 44 shots on POE’s goatending duo.
Both semifinals take place on Tuesday morning, with the championship final set for that evening.
