Click to download 2013 Prospects Program letter and registration form

For more information, read full story.

Sessions are non-contact and are principally scrimmage sessions overseen by the Cougar coaching staff. All sessions will be held at the Archie Browning Sports Centre in Esquimalt.  Cost for all 9 sessions is $150.00.

We recognize that not all players will be available to attend every session, however there are no drop-ins or partial registrations for these sessions.

Space is limited, and registration is on a first-in basis.  There will only be 4 goaltenders accepted, with the 5th being offered the space as an “on call” spare.

Refunds:
Players who sign with another Junior hockey team prior to the start of this camp immediately become ineligible to participate in this program. A $50 administration fee will be subtracted from any refund due.
No refunds will be payable to any player who becomes ineligible, drops out, or cancels for any reason except injury after the start of camp.

A $50 administration fee will be deducted from any refund payable.

To Register:
Please complete the following registration form and mail it along with a payment of $150.00  to the address on the bottom of the registration form.  Please print clearly.  You will receive an e-mail back confirming your registration.  If you have any questions, please contact Tony Carlson at 250-414-0556 (email ).

The Cougars Junior Hockey Club is pleased to announce the dates and times for our 2013 Main Training Camp.

Click to download 2013 Training Camp schedule and application form.

Our camp is run over a three week period to allow our prospects to attend both our camp and various Junior “A” camps / major midget camps while still being considered for our club.  We encourage all players who played competitive hockey at the Bantam “A” level or higher in 2012/13 to register and gain exposure to our program.  In addition to selecting players for our 2013/14 roster, we will be identifying affiliate players, and prospects for the following seasons.

For more information, read full story.

The dates for this camp are:

Players are guaranteed at least the first 4 sessions. To register, please complete the following registration form and mail it complete with payment of $150.00  to the address on the registration.

You will receive an e-mail back confirming your registration.  If you have any questions, please contact Tony Carlson at 250-414-0556 (email ) or Gary Boyer at 250-592-0386 (e-mail ).

Refunds:
Players who sign with another Junior hockey team prior to or after the start of this camp immediately become ineligible to participate in this program. A $50 administration fee will be subtracted from any refund due.

No refunds will be payable to any player who becomes ineligible, drops out, or cancels for any reason except injury after the start of camp. A $50 administration fee will be deducted from any refund payable.

What a ride! The 2012/13 Cougars season has concluded but not without what seemed like highs, higher, and highest moments. We knew going in that this edition would be a strong club, but I don’t think anyone could have imagined just how dominating a season it would be.

To be able to post a 45-1-2 regular season record, then dominate three rounds of VIJHL play-offs was truly an accomplishment for the squad. The team displayed a consistency that is extremely difficult to achieve for professional athletes, let alone a young junior hockey squad.

We knew we would find some highly skilled clubs at the Cyclone Taylor Cup, and definitely we did. We gutted out a thrilling 1-0 win over the KIJHL champion Castlegar Rebels team that brought skill and speed to the table.

We then ran into the PJHL champion Richmond Sockeyes once again, who were a great match for our club. That league has no limit on 20 year-olds, and their champion is always an older, big, physical and talented team to face. Further, their league had at least 4 other clubs of similar strength for them to play against all season. In the end, it was their experience of facing a team of our calibre that paid dividends for them. I truly believe that if we could have seen a team like theirs 10 or 12 times before the Cyclone Taylor Cup, that we would have had a much greater chance of success. We played them well for 55 of the 60 minutes, but could not manage to take them the distance. It was a great effort, however, by all the players and the coaching staff and trainers did an outstanding job of preparing our team to play.

This Cyclone trip was the 5^th in the last 9 years for our club. Over that 9 year period, we have 5 VIJHL play-off championships, 4 Regular season championships for a total of 9 VIJHL championship banners, 1 Cyclone Taylor cup bronze medal, 2 Cyclone Taylor cup silver medals, and 1 Cyclone Taylor cup gold medal. THAT is the meaning behind our slogan on our website that reads ‘a winning tradition of excellence’.

The end of the season means we say goodbye to our five 20 year-olds who are all local Victoria boys. Goaltender Evan Roch, defenceman Rhys Williams, and forwards Brody Coulter, Sam Rice, and Ben Kinshella. Evan, Rhys, Brody, and Ben are 3 year Cougars, while Sam served our club for 4 seasons. We saw all of these youngsters come into our program as boys and leave as men. They are just phenomenal young men, who consistently demonstrated the values, principles and ethics that we expect of everyone involved in our organization. We will miss all of these great young men.

I would like to thank each of our sponsors / advertisers for their ongoing support to our program this season. Without your generous support, we would not be able to provide this framework for our players to evolve.

I also want to recognize the tremendous efforts of our Board of Directors and our large base of volunteers. Each of you is so valuable to the overall success of our program, and as you heard from the players at the year-end awards night, it is recognized and appreciated by everyone.

Finally … to all of the Cougar fans. You are simply amazing. On top of our home games, we see you at so many away games, cheering and supporting the team. To see that many folks make the drive almost daily to Courtenay was shocking, even to me. It almost felt like home games to our club.

We now begin the task of reloading for next year. I am pleased to confirm that our entire Board of Directors will be returning once again. I can also confirm that Head Coach Mark Van Helvoirt will be returning for his 6^th season as the Cougars Head Coach.

We clearly have vacancies at all positions for next year and will be moving to address those needs. Our spring camp runs from April 26-28 and that will be a continuation of the process of identifying players for next year and beyond.

Yours in hockey,
Gary Boyer
President & VIJHL Governor
Victoria Cougars

Here were the award winners: ( Photos courtesy of Kasey Eriksen, Island Sports News)

TOP SCORER AWARD:  Brody Coulter

BOB TYTGAT AWARD (COMMUNITY SERVICE):  Sam Rice / Jake Stolz

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:  Matthew Ho

UNSUNG HERO AWARD:  Wade Johnson

TOP DEFENSEMAN AWARD:  Graham Zagrodney

COACHES AWARD:  Evan Roch / Mark Walton

MARCEL FISHER AWARD (VOLUNTEER):  Rob Pollard

TOP PLAYOFF PERFORMER AWARD:  Dane Feeney / Sam Rice

 In addition, special recognition plaques were awarded to Brody Coulter for setting a new single season VIJHL record of 118 points in 48 games (39G, 79A); and to Evan Roch for setting an all-time single season record of 1.79 GAA (0.920 save %), the best GAA in the 40+ year history of the VIJHL/SVIJHL

COUGARS GRADUATING ALUMNI: Evan Roch, Rhys Williams, Ben Kinshella, Brody Coulter and Sam Rice were awarded their alumni mugs

For the second year in a row, Victoria was runner up at the Cyclone Taylor Cup, this time falling 4-1 to the PJHL champion Richmond Sockeyes.

The Cougars, who ranked No. 1 amongst all 39 Junior B teams in British Columbia from Day 1, jumped out to a 1-0 lead before four straight second period goals by Richmond left Mark Van Helvoirt and his troops leaving the Comox Valley with silver medals around their necks.

Matthew Ho opened the scoring at 3:18 of the first period after he rifled a Sam Rice centering pass behind Kootenay Alder.

Daniell Lange failed to tie the game two minutes later when his shot from just inside the blue line went off the catching glove of Evan Roch and then off the cross bar.

Victoria came close to doubling its lead in the final minute of the period only to have Alder rob Kelyn Opel from point blank range.

The score remained 1-0 in favour of the Cougars until the 7:28 mark of the second period when Jeremy Hamaguchi tipped home a Scott Wessa point shot.

After the goal, the Cougars could not recover.

Jake Roder, one of seven 20-year-old players in Richmond’s lineup, shielded the puck from both Mark Walton and Brandon Egli before scoring off a wraparound to give the Sockeyes the lead at 10:47.

Richmond went ahead 3-1 at 11:52 when Liam Lawson’s long rang shot rang off the cross bar and in.

Van Helvoirt called a timeout after the goal and made a goaltending change as well.

Roch, who posted a league low 1.79 goals against average during the regular season, allowed three goals on 18 shots.

Then on the Sockeyes 20^th shot of the game, Rudi Thorsteinson’s goal late in the period put Richmond that much closer to a berth at the Keystone Cup.

Backup goaltender Michael Herringer played well.  The Victoria Royals draft pick stopped six of seven shots in relief.

Brody Coulter did everything in his power to prolong his playing days but could not rekindle that magic which netted him 118 points during the regular season.

The Sockeyes outshot Victoria 25-18 in a penalty free game.

And as the buzzer sounded to end the game, Cougars’ defenseman Rhys Williams dropped to one knee in despair.

For Ben Kinshella, Coulter, Rice, Roch, and Williams, Sunday was their last game of junior eligibility.

Since 2005, Victoria has been to the Cyclone Taylor Cup five times.  They have won the tournament once, come in second place twice, come in third place once, and come in fourth place once.

Preparations for next season is underway.  The Cougars spring camp gets underway Apr. 26.

-

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:

Matthew Ho, Rhys Williams (Victoria Cougars)

Jake Roder, Jeremy Hamaguchi (Richmond Sockeyes)

-

Brody Coulter scored twice and added a pair of assists to lead the Victoria Cougars to a 6-1 thumping of the Comox Valley Glacier Kings at the 2013 Cyclone Taylor Cup on Saturday night.

The win puts Victoria (2-1) into the finals on Sunday afternoon against the Richmond Sockeyes (3-0).

It will be the second year in a row that the Cyclone Taylor Cup will be won by a team from either the Pacific Junior Hockey League or Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League.

The Abbotsford Pilots beat the Cougars in double overtime last year.

On Saturday, Victoria needed a win or a tie to advance to the gold medal game.  Earlier in the day, the Sockeyes punched their ticket to the finals with a 3-2 win over the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League champion Castlegar Rebels (1-2).

Also scoring for the Cougars, who held period leads of 3-0 and 6-1, were Brandon Egli, Sam Rice, Kelyn Opel, and Jake Stolz.

Tyson Rennie replied for the host Glacier Kings (0-3), who were outshot 33-14.

Victoria set the tone early, scoring on its first shot of the game.  Wade Johnson was credited with the goal but it was Egli who put the puck behind starting goaltender Michael Hails 68 seconds in.

Then less than a half a minute later, Steven Garcia dropped the gloves and went after Cougars’ defenseman Rhys Williams at the Comox Valley blue line.

After the dust settled, both players received slashing minors.  Still on the hook for additional penalties, Garcia was also assessed two minutes for instigating, five minutes for fighting, and an automatic game misconduct.

Trying to play spoilers, the Glacier Kings were now on the defensive for a full seven minutes.

Victoria managed to sneak two goals behind Hails by the time the power play was over.

From the right face-off circle, Rice beat Hails short side at 3:36 for his first goal of the tournament.  Then over a minute later, Opel put the Cougars up by three.

By the time the power play was over, Victoria held a 9-0 shots on goal advantage.

After the goal, Bill Rotheisler called a timeout to settle his team down.

Comox Valley, who received a pair of five-on-three power plays in the period, did not get its first shot on goal until the game was 14 minutes old.

Things did not get easier for the hometown Glacier Kings.  With 39.8 seconds remaining in the period, Jack Kennelly was ejected from the game for his hit from behind on Matthew Ho.

Stolz gave the Cougars a 4-0 lead at 2:47 of the second period after his point shot whistled past Hails.

A roughing penalty to Calvin Hadley put Victoria on its fourth power play of the night.  At 4:44, Coulter scored his first of two goals with the lone assist credited to Rice.

Playing four aside, Roch had his shutout bid ruined when a sharp angle shot from Rennie eluded him at 7:29.

But less than five minutes later, Coulter restored the Cougars five goal advantage with an unassisted marker.

Hails, who turned aside 22-of-28 shots, was replaced by Bryce DiRocco at the start of the third period.  DiRocco stopped all five shots he faced.

Brandon Halls, a rock on the Glacier Kings blue line, was helped off the ice after suffering a lower body injury with 2:38 remaining in regulation.

Victoria went 4-for-11 on the power play; meanwhile, Comox Valley went 0-for-5.

The winner of the gold medal game between the Cougars and Sockeyes will advance to the Keystone Cup held April 17-21 in St. Malo, Manitoba.

-

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:

Kelyn Opel, Wade Johnson (Victoria Cougars)

Patrick Croome, Sasha Hahn (Comox Valley Glacier Kings)

-

Brandon Egli scored in the second period, Evan Roch made 27 saves, and Victoria kept its gold medal hopes alive with a 1-0 win over the Castlegar Rebels in round robin play at the 2013 Cyclone Taylor Cup.

After their opening night loss to the PJHL champion Richmond Sockeyes, the Cougars could ill afford going into tomorrow night’s game against the host Comox Valley Glacier Kings with an 0-2 record.

A potential 0-2 record would have been disastrous; given the length of the tournament.

Despite the lack of offense on the scoreboard, each team had numerous upon numerous chances to put the other away.

But it was the sensational play of both Roch and Jordan Gluck that had everyone inside the Comox Valley Regional District Sports Centre buzzing.

Victoria received a two-man power play early in the game when the KIJHL champion Rebels took a too many men on the ice penalty at 5:25 followed up with an interference penalty to J.R. Krolik 42 seconds later.

Gluck, who turned aside 29-of-30 shots in his Cyclone Taylor Cup debut, looked like fellow New Yorker Jimmy Howard of the Detroit Red Wings when he robbed Nathan Chen-Mack twice from in close.

The Cougars at that point held a 6-0 shots on goal advantage.  But the momentum shifted in a big way when Castlegar, who did not get their first shot on goal until the 10:07 mark, proceeded to get eight more shots on goal before Victoria could finally get one of its own with 2:47 left in the period.

And then with just over a minute remaining in the opening frame, Dane Feeney had a wide open net only to get thwarted by the left arm of Gluck.

The first period was physical and both teams continued their aggressive play well into the second period.

Four minutes into the period, Graham Zagrodney wallpapered Stuart Walton along the side wall which sent the helmet of the offensive juggernaut flying high in the air.  Walton would return to the game but not before getting attended to by safety person Kim Tassone at the bench.

After the hit, the Rebels cranked up the intensity.

But the intensity was short lived when Egli teamed up with Mark Walton and Wade Johnson at 5:49 for the first and only goal of the game.

The Cougars got lucky midway through the period when Diego Bartlett had the puck roll off his stick with a wide open net to shoot at.

Riley Ostoforoff got into the hit parade after sending Sam Rice head over heels.

Again, the physical play continued into the third period.

Johnson jolted Krolik into the end boards 90 seconds in.

Victoria got four great chances for the go-ahead goal.  Ben Kinshella had his point blank shot stopped.  Then Rice had his shot from the high slot picked out of the air by Gluck.

Rice rang the puck off the iron after splitting the defense.  And on a 2-0 break, Jamie Severs passed the puck to Brody Coulter but the Cougars captain was in to tight to get a decent shot off.

Castlegar received a power play at the 12:57 mark after Matthew Ho was sent to the penalty box for interference.  And after some tense moments in the Victoria end, the Cougars would come out unscathed.

Late in the game, Feeney came up big by using his five-foot-seven frame to block two potential game tying shots.

Gluck was pulled with 1:07 remaining in regulation and despite crowding the crease and getting a couple of good scoring opportunities, the Rebels would fall short.

Victoria went 0-for-2 on the power play; meanwhile, Castlegar went 0-for-3.

Former Kerry Park Islanders defenseman Brett Leidl was not in the lineup for the Rebels after he suffered a lower body injury last night against Comox Valley.

-

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:

Brandon Egli, Evan Roch (Victoria Cougars)

Brenden Heinrich, Jordan Gluck (Castlegar Rebels)

-

Victoria would only muster 15 shots on goal as it dropped a 5-2 decision to the Richmond Sockeyes in the opening game for both teams at the 2013 Cyclone Taylor Cup on a sunny Thursday afternoon in the Comox Valley.

Nothing much good was shining down on Mark Van Helvoirt and his troops who now have only 24 hours to regroup before playing the KIJHL champion Castlegar Rebels.

In the nightcap, Castlegar defeated the host Comox Valley Glacier Kings 3-1 in front of a good size crowd at the Comox Valley Regional District Sports Centre.

Dean Allison, Daniel Tait, Rudi Thorsteinson, Jeremy Hamaguchi, and Daniell Lange scored for the PJHL champion Sockeyes who held period leads of 2-1 and 5-2.

Replying for Victoria was Wade Johnson and Brody Coulter.

It was a hard hitting affair as each team doled out a number of bone-crushing hits.

Johnson opened the scoring at 8:06 when his shot rang off the iron and in.  The goal came one second after Stephen Campbell stepped out of the penalty box.

A hooking penalty to Nathan Chen-Mack at 9:38 in the offensive zone would put Richmond on its first power play.  Allison, who scored a team-high 13 goals during the PJHL playoffs, scored 52 seconds later to tie the game.

Tait would put the Sockeyes ahead for good with 1:14 remaining in the opening frame when his wraparound beat Evan Roch.

Richmond put the game away in the second period after scoring three times on eight shots.

Thorsteinson gave the Sockeyes a 3-1 lead on a two-on-one break at 3:27.  20-year-old defenseman Matt Wagner made a nice pass up to Jake Roder who in turn feathered the puck over to his wing man.

Six minutes later, Hamaguchi banged home a Roder rebound to put Richmond up by three goals.

But the Cougars would get that one back at 14:01 on the power play when a howitzer from the point by Coulter left Kootenay Alder frozen in the crease.

The back breaker for Victoria came only 46 second later when Lange fired the puck into a wide open cage after being left all alone at the side of the net.

Roch was pulled after allowing five goals on 20 shots through 40 minutes.  He was replaced by Victoria Royals prospect Michael Herringer who stopped all ten shots he faced.

The Sockeyes received a scare early in the third period when Allison had his feet taken out from under him by Mark Walton.  Allison, who would be okay, was attended to by the training staff.  Walton was assessed a five minute major for tripping and a game misconduct on the play.

Already a man short, Victoria now had to contend with playing two players down.  Midway through the second period, Jo Davie received both an interference penalty and a game misconduct.

Unable to break through Richmond’s stingy defense, the Cougars were able to manage only four shots on goal in the final frame.

Victoria went 1-for-4 on the power play; meanwhile, the Sockeyes went 1-for-6.

-

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:

Brody Coulter, Ben Kinshella (Victoria Cougars)

Jake Roder, Daniell Lange (Richmond Sockeyes)

-

All CTC games will be video broadcast over the internet by SL Video Networks. To view the internet video broadcast, go to: http://slvideonetworks.com/watch-now/CycloneTaylorCup/ .

Individual broadcasts are $9.50. A full event pass is $39.50 which will allow you to watch all 8 games.

Mark Van Helvoirt and his troops will hold one more practice tonight at the George R. Pearkes Community Recreation Centre from 6:00 p.m. to 7:20 p.m. in preparation for the upcoming Cyclone Taylor Cup.

Then on Wednesday, April 10, the Cougars will depart the Archie Browning Sports Centre, located at 1151 Esquimalt Road, at 10:30 a.m.  From there, they will head north on Hwy. 1 and arrive in Courtenay, B.C. that afternoon.

After earning a berth in the 2013 Cyclone Taylor Cup, Victoria will join the host Comox Valley Glacier Kings, Kootenay International Junior Hockey League champion Castlegar Rebels, and Pacific Junior Hockey League champion Richmond Sockeyes in a four-team round-robin tournament.

-

-

SCHEDULE:

-

Game 1:  Thursday, April 11, 2013

Victoria Cougars vs. Richmond Sockeyes

Comox Valley Sports Centre

3:30 p.m.

-

Game 2:  Friday, April 12, 2013

Victoria Cougars vs. Castlegar Rebels

Comox Valley Sports Centre

3:30 p.m.

-

Game 3:  Saturday, April 13, 2013

Victoria Cougars vs. Comox Valley Glacier Kings

Comox Valley Sports Centre

7:30 p.m.

-

Game 4:  Sunday, April 14, 2013 (Bronze Medal Game)

T.B.A. vs. T.B.A.

Comox Valley Sports Centre

10:30 a.m.

-

Game 4:  Sunday, April 14, 2013 (Gold Medal Game)

T.B.A. vs. T.B.A.

Comox Valley Sports Centre

2:30 p.m.

-