Difficulty putting the puck in the net on one side and a hot goaltender on the other is seldom a recipe for success.
And it wasn't for the Viking Construction Pee Wee Cougars.
The Cougars finished their run at the 2011 B.C. Pee Wee Tier 1 Hockey Provincial Championship without a win.
The tournament ended for the host club with an 8-4 loss to Nanaimo.
It was Nanaimo's first win of the tournament leaving the visitors with a 1-4 record and the Cougars at 0-5
"I knew we might be in tough," said Cougars head coach Adrien Chabot. "Scoring has been a bit of a problem for us and the Nanaimo goaltender [Dylan Ferguson] has been really good."
The Cougars gave as good as they got for most of the first 40 minutes.
Nanaimo opened the scoring under four minutes into the game but the locals responded well.
Goals by Korbyn Chabot and Kaiden Goggin narrowed the gap and the Cougars trailed 3-2 after the opening period.
Brad Price and Jeremy Gervais assisted on Chabot's marker, while Goggin's was unassisted.
A strong second period left little doubt as to the game's outcome as Nanaimo outscored the Cougars 4-2 for a daunting 7-4.
Garrett Hilton, with assists from Goggin and Devin Sutton, and Darren Hards rounded out the Cougars scoring. Chris Jandric and Mitchell Williams had the helpers on Hards tally.
Despite coming up empty handed, coach Chabot was pleased with his squad.
We got better every game. That's all you can ask," he said.
Part of what Chabot's team faced in getting this far was a grueling season of travel.
Kamloops is the closest tier 1 competition. With no Northern rivals, the teams was forced to compete in the Okanagan league.
Each road trip meant a 1,000 km round-trip.
"You definitely have to be committed," said Chabot.
