The Cariboo Cougars sport an even .500 record so far at the 2014 Mac's Midget triple-A tournament in Calgary.
The Cougars lost to the Calgary Northstars 4-2 Sunday after they opened the tournament on Boxing Day with a 6-3 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes in round-robin action.
"It was a good game [against the Northstars], we outshot them but we just ran into a good goaltender," said Cougars co-coach Bryan MacLean Sunday from Calgary. "We hit some posts and Calgary is a good team. Our execution was fine. I'm not disappointed in the way we played."
Justin Almeida and Austin Gray tallied the Cougars goals while Dorrin Luding suffered the loss in net in his first appearance in the tournament.
On Boxing Day, the Cougars had goals from six different players - Colton Thomas, Conor MacEachern, Todd Bredo, Gray, Almeida and Steven Jandric. Gray had two helpers to go along with his goal.
Griffen Outhouse swept aside 32 of 35 shots he faced.
"On Friday our second period wasn't pretty but we erupted for four goals in the third after being down a goal," said MacLean. "I was really happy with that."
The Cougars take on the Battlefords Stars from North Battleford, Sask. today at 4:15 p.m. They wrap up the round-robin portion tomorrow against the Markham Waxers from Ontario.
The Northstars lead the round-robin pool with a 3-0 record, followed by the Stars and Cougars who are both 1-1.
"I still feel good about the position we're in, we're not out of it yet," said MacLean. "It's a big test. The Stars play a similar style to the Northstars but they're a bit older than us. They have a lot of 17-year-olds. It'll be good for us to go up against them and they play more our style with a little more speed."
The 25-team tournament is divided into five round-robin pools with five teams each. The top team from each pool advances to the quarter-finals, while the remaining three teams advance based on goals for and against.
• The Northland Dodge Northern Female Cougars are competing in the female division of the Mac's Midget tournament.
They were shut out 1-0 by the St. Albert Slash on Boxing Day. On Sunday, they battled the Westman Wildcats. Results weren't available at the Citizen's deadline. Today, they take on the Peace Country Storm.
