U18 Canadians Split with Cougars in First Games of Season

The U18 AAA Greater Vancouver Canadians opened their 2024-25 regular season with a dramatic overtime victory before losing the next day, as they earned a split with the U18 Cariboo Cougars at the Richmond Olympic Oval over the weekend.

On Saturday, the Canadians led 2-0 after the first period, on goals by Nicholas Drapack and Helius Guan, before Cariboo scored twice in the third to tie things up, including the equalizer with 5:57 remaining. The Canadians, however, won the game 3-2 in overtime on Nathan Van Hoeke’s power-play marker with 29.6 seconds left. Alan Peregrym notched the win for GVC, stopping 16 shots over the first two periods and making several more outstanding stops in the third.

On Sunday, the Canadians gave up four goals in the first period en route to a 6-2 defeat. Cohen Smith and Sorash Ramlal scored the GVC goals, and both Liam Leslie and Alan Peregrym saw action in the contest. Leslie stopped eight shots, while Peregrym made 21 saves. 

Kaden Meyer picked up three assists in the two games, and leads the team in both assists and points. 

Next up for the U18 Canadians in BCEHL action, a home-and-home series on October 5-6 against the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds. The Saturday game is at the Richmond Oval at 2:30 p.m., while the Sunday contest is scheduled for the Abbotsford Centre at 6:30 p.m. Both games can be seen on playfullscreen.com.