Prince George, B.C. – There is a lot of hockey to be played in a short period of time in the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League playoffs, if you are successful.

So far successful is exactly what the Cariboo Cougars have been.  However, the BCMML regular season champions were stretched to the limit last weekend before closing out their best-of-three quarter-final series against the eighth-place Fraser Valley Thunderbirds at Kin 1.  The Cougars won the opener 3-1, Fraser Valley took game two 4-2 with the Cariboo Cats taking the deciding game 4-2.

The semi-final this weekend could easily go the limit as well, if the opening round of the playoffs is any indication.  The Cougars take on the seventh-place South Island Royals, who scored a huge upset by knocking off the number two club in the regular season, the Vancouver NW Giants, in a series that saw all three games go to overtime.

It could turn out that the prize the Cariboo Cougars won for finishing first in the regular season, home ice advantage throughout the playoffs, proves to be the difference in this weekend’s series, although the Giants might tell you it didn’t mean much in their loss to the Royals.

First game of the best-of-three semi goes tonight, with an early start time of 5pm.  The teams square off in game two Saturday afternoon at 1pm and, if a rubber match is needed, it will begin at 8:15 Sunday morning.