Cariboo Cougars head coach Trevor Sprague has been named bench boss for Team BC at the 2013 U-16 Western Canada Challenge Cup.

It marks the second straight year Sprague has been named to Team BC's staff after serving as Assistant Coach on last year's Gold Medal winning team alongside Cariboo Cougar forward Brad Morrison.

Now in his sixth season as head coach with the Cougars, Sprague has guided the team to three straight BCMML finals and holds one of the league's most impressive winning records.

The U-16 Western Canada Challenge Cup features the top 1998-born players from BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba and marks the entrance to BC Hockey's High Performance program.

Congratulations Trevor!

Cariboo Cougar forward Liam Blackburn has committed to play for the BCHL's West Kelowna Warriors next season.

The 16-year old forward is one of BC Major Midget's most sought after prospects currently sitting second in league scoring with 73 points.

"I'm very excited and proud to be joining the Warriors organization," said Blackburn.  "The chance to play with such a solid team and staff doesn't come along every day.  They have already made me feel so welcome and I look forward to beginning my junior career in a Warriors jersey."

Blackburn will have at least one familiar face in the Warriors dressing room next season as he joins another Prince George product and former Cariboo Cougar Seb Lloyd who will be entering his third season with West Kelowna in 2013-2014.

"It's really exciting to have another Prince George player join the program here," said Lloyd.  The Cariboo Cougars do a great job developing young players and I have no doubt Liam will be a great player for the West Kelowna Warriors in the future.  I look forward to having the opportunity to play with Liam and I'm excited to call him a teammate."

After going unselected in the WHL bantam draft two years ago, Blackburn has turned heads ever since.  Last season he was a member of the provincial champion Midget Tier 1 Cougars while playing several games with the Cougars as an affiliate.  Last month the centreman broke Lloyd's team record for assists in a single season and earlier this month set a new mark for points in a single season surpassing Brett Bulmer's 63 set back in 2008-09.  Blackburn has been on a tear of late having scored hat tricks in three of his last five games and is now producing at better than two points per game.

Congratulations Liam!

It's been a record-breaking season for a number of Cariboo Cougars, and not surprisingly one of those is Brad Morrison.

The 16-year old entered this Major Midget League season as one of the most highly touted Western Hockey League prospects having been chosen seventh overall in the 2012 WHL Bantam Draft by his hometown Prince George Cougars.

Recently Morrison set a new Cariboo Cougar benchmark for rookie scoring now sitting with 17 goals and 27 assists for 44 points in 34 games so far this season.

The winger wasn't sure at first if he'd be able to surpass the 39 point mark set by a 15-year old Brett Bulmer back in 2007-2008, but as he crept closer Morrison realized he was about to join an exclusive group of alumni.

"I knew as hard as I worked I'd just keep getting points, and I saw all the names that have been up there for first years for that record with Bulmer and (Brett) Connolly and all those guys, and it's pretty cool."

It hasn't been an easy year for Morrison who had been used to scoring at will throughout his minor hockey days including playing both bantam years with the Okanagan Hockey Academy before being drafted by the Cougars and moving back home to Prince George.  With head coach Trevor Sprague and the Major Midget Cougars, Morrison has had to develop his defensive game as he prepares for the next level.  He's had a good taste of what's to come as well by playing five games this season with the WHL Cougars scoring a goal and two assists.

"It's great, it gives me a lot more confidence coming back down to this league, after being up there for a couple games or a few practices it just makes you a lot better player, you got to work your hardest."

Morrison is third in 1997-born player scoring in the BCMML behind first overall bantam pick Matthew Barzal of the Vancouver NE Chiefs and fellow Prince George Cougar draft pick Jansen Harkins of the Vancouver NW Giants.  Overall, Morrison is fourth in team scoring and 14th in the league.

Morrison is feeling confident about his game heading into the last couple weekends of the regular season and into playoffs but he knows there's a lot of work ahead both for the team and personally.

"Probably just my positioning, getting out of my end easier and being harder on the puck, maybe playing a bit more aggressive."

The hockey genes run strong in Morrison's family with his older brother Curt having played for the Prince George Spruce Kings and father Doug enjoying a lengthy professional career.

After winning gold with Team BC at the U-16 Western Canada Challenge Cup back in November, Morrison is hoping to double-up on his championships this season as the Cougars are gunning for their second ever BCMML title with the post-season just around the corner.

The Cariboo Cougars offence was on display yet again Sunday with a 6-3 win over the Thompson Blazers in Kamloops.

The victory is the Cats sixth straight and extends the team's unbeaten streak to ten games.

Once again it was the Cougars who struck first as Logan Styler scored his fourth of the weekend six and a half minutes into the first from Liam Blackburn.  Kirk Hards gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead with a late period tally from Donovan Law and Brad Morrison.

The Blazers cut the lead in half early in the second before Eli Jarvis restored the two goal lead just two and a half minutes later.  Tyler Povelofskie got his first of two Sunday with a hard wrist shot that beat Kyle Michalovsky to take a 4-1 lead heading into the final frame.  With an assist on Povelofskie's goal, Jarvis earned his 130th career Major Midget point setting a new league record.

Brad Morrison got his 17th of the season with a backhander for the 5-1 lead midway through the third.  The Blazers answered back with two goals in three and a half minutes to make it a two goal game with half a period to go.

But a beautiful Lien Miller-Jeannotte pass over to Povelofskie who perfectly tipped it into the Blazer net restored the three goal lead which proved to be far too much for the home team to handle as the Cats improved their record to 28-7-1 and remain six points ahead of the Okanagan Rockets for second place in the BCMML heading into the Cougars final bye weekend of the season.

Nathan Warren earned his 19th win of the season as the Cougars have clinched a top three spot heading into the playoffs.

The Cats will enjoy their bye weekend before hosting the South Island Royals in a potential layoff preview February 23rd and 24th, the final home games of the regular season.