Squamish-born goaltender Corey Koop capped an impressive first season in the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League (VIJHL) by winning the award as the league's top goalie after backstopping the Victoria Cougars to the best record in the league.
Koop posted a sparkling record of 22 wins and nine losses to go along with a league best .916 save percentage and a 2.26 goals against average. Koop said it was an honour to be named the league's top goalie but he's more pleased with his team's accomplishments.
"It's definitely nice to win the top goalie but that's really the last thing you're thinking about," he said. "I wanted to get us into the playoffs and then get us into first and we did that."
But it wasn't a completely smooth ride for the Cougars. It was a dogfight for the top record in the league, with Victoria just edging out both the Peninsula Panthers and the Comox Valley Glacier Kings. According to Koop, it came right down to the wire.
"It really came down to us having to win our last two games of the season to finish first overall," he said. "Peninsula lost in a shootout to Saanich in their second last game, which gave us a chance to finish first."
The Cougars responded with wins over the Campbell River Storm and the Kerry Park Islanders to close out the year and finish first.
Koop said having to battle the Panthers until the final day of the regular season for first was a good experience for the team.
"I think it's a lot better to be pushed by a team and keeping the intensity up," he said, pointing out that often teams can get complacent when they're at the top for too long. "It was a real battle and although we had our ups and downs over the season, we wanted to be able to be on a roll going into the playoffs and I think we are."
With the first-place finish, the Cougars received a bye for the first round and then swept the Oceanside Generals in three games to advance to the VIJHL finals. They will meet their archrivals, the Peninsula Panthers, in the finals after the Panthers swept the Glacier Kings to move on. Koop said the Panthers have been a thorn in the Cougars' side all season.
"It's really a mental thing for us," he said, noting that the Panthers beat the Cougars six out of the nine times the two teams met this season. "We give them too much credit and we need to go into the game and do things our way. In our three wins, we dominated them and I think we can do that in the playoffs."
Koop said he has really enjoyed his time in Victoria and pointed out that being put in a great billet home helped. The team recently honoured the players' billet families and Koop sung the praises of the family he's been living with.
"I couldn't have been put in a better home," he said. "I don't have to avoid coming home and I don't have anything to worry about. I can just focus on hockey and it's been great."
Koop also said he's rooting for his fellow 麻豆社国产native and friend Trevor Leblanc and the Creston Valley Thundercats over in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL). Koop said it would be great to see his former minor hockey teammate in the Cyclone Taylor Cup provincial championship if both their teams manage to make it.
Koop and the Cougars will open their best-of-five VIJHL finals series at the Archie Browning Sports Centre. Dates and times of the games were still to be determined at press time.
For more information on the team, visit www.victoriacougars.com.
