Cariboo Cougar forward Logan Styler has been named a runner-up for the BC Major Midget Player of the Month for January.

Styler scored four goals and added eight assists in 10 games last month with just four minutes in penalties.

After starting the season at about a point per game pace, the 16-year old Prince George native has exploded with his new linemates Liam Blackburn and Braiden Epp and now boasts 46 points in 32 games sitting third in team scoring and eighth in the league, helped in large part by a seven point weekend against the Okanagan Rockets including a five point game last Sunday.

Styler has been one of the team's best penalty killers and is also a regular on the power play, one of the most dangerous in the league.

Congratulations Logan!

The Cariboo Cougars look to extend their longest unbeaten streak of the season this weekend in Kamloops as they face the suddenly surging Thompson Blazers.

The Cats are coming off a pair of key victories over the Okanagan Rockets last weekend in Prince George which put the team six points up on their Kelowna rivals for second place.  The Blazers meanwhile are coming off a key weekend of their own against the Rockets earning a 4-2 win in their last game two weeks ago before heading into their final bye weekend of the season.  With just six wins on the season the Blazers are making a late surge to get into a playoff position having won three of their last six and sit just two points behind the eighth place North Island Silvertips.

With a 26-7-1 record, the Cougars are seven points behind the leading Vancouver NW Giants and bring the league's most potent offence into this weekend having scored 173 goals, more than any other team, while allowing just 87, the second least in the BCMML.  The Blazers will have their hands full with the Cougars top scoring line as Liam Blackburn has scored two hattricks in his last three games and is coming off a record breaking weekend where he set a new team mark for points in a single season and now has 67, the second highest in the league.  Logan Styler has been on a hot streak of his own notching five points in last Sunday's 8-4 win over the Rockets.

The Cats have already clinched a home playoff berth for the first round of the playoffs but cannot ease off the gas with second place still up for grabs although the Cats are in the driver's seat.

The Cougars and Blazers last met in McBride in early November with the Cats taking both games 6-0 and 3-1.

Saturday's contest is set for 8:00pm at the MacArthur Island Sports Centre with Sunday's final regular season meeting between the Cats and Blazers Sunday morning at 10:00 at Interior Savings Centre.

It's been a special season for Cariboo Cougar forward Liam Blackburn.  Quickly establishing himself as an elite player in the BCMML, the 16-year old from Prince George has rewritten the club's record book and there's still three weeks left in the regular season.

On the team's recent road trip to Nelson, Blackburn set a new team record for assists in a single season passing Seb Lloyd's previous mark of 37.  Then Saturday he tied Brett Bulmer's single season points mark of 63 set back in 2008-09 setting himself up for a memorable day Sunday against the Okanagan Rockets.  It didn't take long for the skilled centreman to set a new milestone as he opened scoring just 35 seconds into the first period.

"Before the game I was trying to visualize anything I could to get me going and I came out really strong and first shift in there got a good bounce, Penner shot it down and put it in the net right off the start."

As one of the Cougars final cuts last season, Blackburn played his first year of midget with the Tier 1 Cougars winning a provincial championship.  As the team's leading scorer, Blackburn played three games with the Cougars as an affiliate callup and never looked out of place.  It was a team he knew he belonged with the next year.

"The Cariboo Cougars have really pushed me to work my hardest, defensively my game's gotten a lot stronger through (head coach Trevor) Sprague and Bryan they've been teaching me a lot more on defense first.  I've been getting a lot stronger on the puck in the corners and that's helping me at the next level a lot."

With 26 goals this season, Blackburn is also creeping up on another team mark set by Luke Gordon in 2010-11 with 29 goals. 

He's not the biggest or flashiest, but Blackburn has excelled at every level of hockey he has played and his hard work and determination has not gone unnoticed.  This season he has played three games as an affiliate with the BCHL's Prince George Spruce Kings for whom he scored his first Junior A goal last week followed by his first assist the following night.  In November Blackburn was added to the WHL's Victoria Royals list of protected players as the 5'10" 155 pound forward hopes to crack the Western Hockey League next season.

The accomplishments he has achieved so far this year put Blackburn in an exclusive club of former Cariboo Cougars who have gone onto the WHL and beyond.  The precedent has been set and he intends to do whatever he can to make it as far as possible.

"It's a real privilege to see where they've gotten now.  It gives me a little bit of hope that I can get there too.  The hard work just keeps coming and the harder I work the further I can get in hockey."

Cariboo Cougar forward Braiden Epp has committed to play for the Prince George Spruce Kings of the BCHL next season.

The 16-year old Prince George product has put together a stellar season so far with the Cougars posting 25 goals and 55 points with 53 PIM's in 32 games, sitting third in BCMML scoring.

Last season Epp helped the Midget Tier 1 Cougars to their provincial championship and is a big part of the Cougars success this season.

Epp joins a long list of Cariboo Cougar alumni to don a Spruce Kings jersey including RJay Berra, Justin Fillion, and Jake LeBrun.

Congratulations Braiden!