A Christmas tradition seemed in jeopardy. But, the Cariboo Cougars -- who struggled to win games early in the season -- have been invited to the Mac's AAA Midget Hockey Tournament for the eighth consecutive year.
"We're pretty excited," said Cougars head coach Bryan MacLean. "We had a pretty rough start to the season this year but we were pretty happy with our second set of eight games where we went 5-2-1. That gave us an opportunity to go to Calgary for Christmas."
The Mac's will start on Boxing Day in the southern Alberta city.
For the midget age group, the tournament is considered the most prestigious in the world. The list of NHLers who skated in the Mac's as youngsters is a long one and includes Sidney Crosby, Joffrey Lupul, Dany Heatley, Jarome Iginla, Ryan Smyth, Jay Bouwmeester, Simon Gagne and Trevor Linden.
The 15- to 17-year-old Cougars compete in the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League. The majority of the team's lineup is new to the major midget level and those players needed some time to find their feet. The Cats did win their first three games of the year but then dropped five in a row between Oct. 6 and Oct. 20.
The turnaround came just in time for acceptance into the Mac's, which acts as a powerful magnet on junior hockey talent-seekers.
"For the guys that are on the team, it's a good chance to go and play in front of a lot of scouts," MacLean said. "That's the biggest thing about it -- it's a good opportunity to sell your program and sell your players to junior teams.
"For our team, it will show us what the best teams are doing in western Canada and throughout North America," MacLean added.
The Cougars are one of 25 clubs that will skate in the tournament's male division. The top team in each of the five pools will qualify for the playoff round and so will the clubs with the three next-best records.
"We're certainly going to go there with the intention of winning some hockey games," MacLean said. "We'll see what we can do but it will just be a good experience all around for the players and the staff and the families."
Last year, a powerful Cougars team made the playoff round at the Mac's and lost a quarterfinal heartbreaker to Pirati Chomutov of the Czech Republic, 3-2 in overtime. Overall, the 2012-13 Cariboo club posted a 3-1-1 record.
This year's schedule has not yet been released.
