A sluggish start in one game kept the Coast Inn of the North Cougars from the playoff round at a minor hockey tournament last weekend in Revelstoke.
The Cougars, Prince George's midget Tier 1 reps, started with impressive wins against Okotoks (7-1) and Notre Dame (3-2) but then dropped a 4-3 decision to Nanaimo in what was considered an upset. The Cats completed round-robin play with a 5-3 loss to a strong Calgary Rangers team and didn't advance to the crossover semifinals.
In the big picture, the setback against Nanaimo was tough to swallow.
"They went up 4-1 on us very, very quickly and then our boys got their legs and started to work very, very hard and outshot them badly for the second half of the game," said Cougars head coach Brian Toll. "We just could not put the puck in the net.
"I talked to the boys afterward and said we can't have slow starts like that because you never know what's going to happen. Their goaltender came up very big - he ended up getting player of the game from their team.
"(The loss) was one of those things," Toll added. "That's hockey. It happens that way sometimes and all you can do is just learn from it."
During the tournament, one of the standout players for the 15- to 17-year-old Cougars was rookie defenceman Mathew Magrath, a ninth-round bantam draft pick of the WHL's Prince George Cougars last May. Magrath was steady inside his own blueline and was also a major part of the Coast Inn offence. He didn't score against Okotoks but notched four goals in the remaining three games. Two of his markers were on the power play.
"He is really stepping up," Toll said. "He looks so mature out there. He's a presence out there and it's pretty nice to see for a 15-year-old boy."
Individually, the weekend was also memorable for forward Jaxon Danilec, who was added to the roster of the major midget Cariboo Cougars for their Sunday game in Kamloops against the Thompson Blazers. Danilec helped Cariboo to a 6-1 win.
Coast Inn is off this weekend and will resume play in the Okanagan Mainline Amateur Hockey Association with Nov. 4-5 road games against South Okanagan. The Cats will host a tournament Nov. 24-26.
