Prince George, B.C. – The Cariboo Cougars are off to the Kootenays this weekend, hoping to improve on their sixth-place standing in the BC Major Midget Hockey League.

With a 13-15-2 record the Cougars are six points back of the Greater Vancouver Canadians, with two games in hand and coach Bryan MacLean says pushing to finish as high in the standings as possible is important as playoffs approach.
"It's about just going as high as we can," MacLean said. "If it's sixth it's good, if it's fifth it's great and if it's fourth it's even better."
The Cougars don't want to slip any lower in the rankings as a seventh- or eighth-place finish would mean a first round date with either the Okanagan Rockets or Vancouver Northwest Giants, the two teams that  have been the cream of the BCMML crop this year.
The Cougars have a chance to get back to .500 on the season this weekend as they head to Nelson to play the last-place Kootenay Ice (4-21-5).  As well, Including this weekend's games against the Ice, the Cats are playing six straight games against teams currently below them in the standings.  However the real test will come as they wrap up the regular season with back-to-back weekend sets against the Rockets and the Giants.
The Cougars and Ice play in Nelson at 12:30 this afternoon and again Sunday at 10:15 a.m.