Two local hockey talents are making real contributions with phenomenal play and big heart on the top team in the top female midget hockey league in the province.
Emilie Nichols of Lac la Hache and Cassidy Mellott of 100 Mile House are members of the Northern Cougars, a Prince George-based squad that clinched first overall with a record-breaking 2014-15 season in BC Hockey’s Female Midget AAA program.
Most recently, the club finished the regular season with one win and two ties against Langley, in its final three games, Jan. 30 to Feb. 1. The Cougars finished the season with a league record 25 wins and 125 goals scored in 30 games.
Coach Mario Desjardins says the team has a lot of returning players, and the players are committed to the system they want to run, which has helped them get to the next level.
“We’ve got a lot of firepower,” he says. “We’re having a lot of success this year.”
Nichols, a second-year midget goalie, and Mellott, playing in her third and last midget season, are a big part of the team’s success, Desjardins adds.
Mellott brings speed, experience and leadership.
“She’s not big in stature, but she makes up for that with heart and hard work,” Desjardins says of the 17-year-old. “She’s just an overall good kid. She’s been a really good fit. In the last little while, she’s had some puck luck, and the puck is starting to go in for her.”
Mellott scored six goals and tallied eight assists this season. She echoes the coach’s point about the team all buying into the system, and adds she’s really exciting heading into playoffs as the top seed.
“I’m really enjoying it,” she says of her time in Prince George this season. “School has been really good and the hockey of course has been really good too. [My teammates and I] all get along and play for each other every game.”
Next year, Mellott says she’s considering attending the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George. She’d also love to coach a girls hockey team in the future. This season, her final midget year, is potentially her last of competitive hockey. It’s been a great one, and moving on is definitely bittersweet.
“A little more bitter than sweet,” she adds. “But I will make due.”
For Nichols, 16, this is her best season yet between the pipes. She’s ranked near the top of the league in goaltending. When the team’s second goalie, Kelsey Roberts, another top performer in the league, went down with an injury earlier this season, Nichols stepped up and shut opposing teams down. In 17 games her record was 15-2, with a goals against average of 1.5.
“Emilie has been a huge surprise for us,” Desjardins says. “Emilie stepped in and played absolutely phenomenal.”
The move to Prince George was a big one for the net minder, her first time being away from home.
The goalie says she’s been working hard, been very focused on the game, and has confidence in the players in front of her. She billets with three teammates. She says it’s a bit lonely sometimes living away from home, but with the busy season, “you don’t have time to be homesick.”
Nichols says that hockey players from small towns, like 100 Mile House or Lac la Hache, shouldn’t be intimated to tryout for bigger, more competitive regional teams like the Cougars, if they believe in themselves.
“I just went with it,” she adds. “I wasn’t scared to hold back on my dreams.”
The Cougars have the No. 1 seed in the league playoffs. Coach Desjardins says the team’s ultimate goal is to compete in the 2015 Esso Cup, the national women’s championship, in Red Deer, Alta. in April.
