The Farr Fabricating Cougars would have welcomed a bit of puck luck.
It didn't happen, and the absence of a kind bounce contributed to a winless record at the prestigious John Reid Memorial hockey tournament in St. Albert, Alta.
The bantam Tier 1 Cats started the 16-team event with a pair of tough Thursday losses, 4-3 to the St. Albert Sabres and 4-3 to Kelowna's Pursuit of Excellence. In the St. Albert game, the winning goal came with just four seconds left on the clock, while the Sabres were on a power play. Against Pursuit, the Cougars were up 2-1 heading into the third period and couldn't hang on for the victory.
In their last game of pool play, the Cats fell 6-3 to the Calgary Bronks. Farr Fab finished off the weekend with a 9-1 loss to the powerful Airdrie Xtreme, who were taking out their frustrations for unexpected losses earlier in the tournament.
The Cougars didn't get the results they wanted but, in terms of their effort, head coach Sean LeBrun didn't mind what he witnessed.
"For the most part, I'm pretty happy with the way we played," he said.
"A couple bounces here and there and we're 2-0 instead of 0-2 (to start). St. Albert and the Pursuit both advanced to the semifinals of the tournament so we had a tough draw. For being off for three weeks, I was pretty proud of the guys. We battled hard against some tough competition but just didn't have it."
The Bronks are currently the second-ranked team in Southern Alberta and the Xtreme are No. 1 in the entire Wild Rose province.
In Sunday's championship final, the Los Angeles Selects edged the Burnaby Winter Club 3-2.
Cougars forwards Jake LeBrun and Michael Klonarakis both finished the weekend with three goals. Chase Witala scored twice, while Michael Bhatoa and Raymond Grewal contributed singles. Jared Young and Nathan Warren were the Prince George netminders.
Coach LeBrun was particularly happy with the play of Grewal, a 14-year-old defenceman.
"He had a fantastic tournament," LeBrun said.
"They pick all-star teams for the tournament, an all-star team from each conference, and I was really hoping that Raymond would get some consideration. It's really tough when you're on an 0-4 team but, as far as I'm concerned, Raymond was one of the top defencemen in the tournament.
"He's so competitive," LeBrun added.
"He moves the puck, he skates very well. He's just a smart hockey player and big and strong and fast. He's an all-around good defenceman."
The Cougars have no games scheduled for the next couple weeks but are hoping to host Pursuit for exhibition contests Feb. 13-14.
The Cats are now finished with tournament play, with the exception of the provincial championship, March 6-12 in the Lower Mainland.
