It was close, but no cigar for the Cariboo Cougars at the Mac's Midget Tournament in Calgary.
The Cougars were shut out of the playoff picture Friday after a 1-0 loss to the Calgary Northstars (4-0), wrapping up round-robin play with a 2-2 record.
The Northstars scored the only goal of the game early in the second period when Sam Plaquin beat Cougars' goaltender David Readman with the power-play marker.
Readman held the Cougars in the game despite the fact they played almost 20 minutes short handed, penalized for 10 minors compared to the Northstars two, stopping 25 shots. Devin Green had the 23-save shutout for Calgary.
Plaquin picked up player of the game honours for the Northstars, while Nathan Craft received the award for the Cougars.
The Cougars began the tournament with a 4-2 loss to Pirati Chomutov (Czech Republic) on Boxing Day before dispensing of the Fort Saskatchewan BP Rangers 7-2 and the Tisdale Trojans 7-3 in a late game Thursday.
The five division winners advancing to the quarterfinals were: UFA Bisons (Alberta); Prince Albert Mintos; St. Albert Sport Raiders; the Northstars and Russia Severstal/Locomotiv. The three wild card berths (determined by goal differential in the tournament) went to: Calgary Flames; Beardy's Blackhawks (Saskatchewan) and Pirati Chomutov. The Cougars scored 16 goals and game up 10 in the tournament.
Cariboo returns to Prince George this morning and drops the puck on the second half of the B.C. Major Midget League season Jan. 7 and 8 when the Valley West Hawks (14-10) stop by Kin 1 for a pair of games at 7:15 p.m. and 10 a.m., respectively. The Cougars (14-7-3) are in third place - three points ahead of the Hawks - after dropping their final two pre-Christmas games to the Vancouver NW Giants (15-3-5).
