Overtime proved a period too far for the Northwest Giants.
The B.C. major midget team missed a chance at a fifth Mac’s AAA midget hockey tournament final following a 3-2 double-overtime loss to the second-place Saskatchewan league Regina Pat Canadians last week.
The Giants, two-time winners in 2009 and again in 2012, also finished runners-up at the Macs in 2007 and ’08.
“It really does (mean something), especially to the boys who have been there before,” said Giants head coach Clint Thornton. “They know what to expect. It’s a tough tournament.”
The competition was made even tougher when the flu hit the Giants locker room hard early in the tourney.
Team captain Keegan Jones led the Giants with three goals and two assists at the Mac’s, including an assist and the go-ahead marker in the four-goal middle period in the semifinal matchup against the Pats at the Max Bell Centre in Calgary on New Year’s Eve.
Both teams played shutout hockey through the first, third and opening period of overtime before Regina’s Conner Chaulk got the puck behind Beck Warm in the fifth minute of the second overtime period.
Shane Kime also scored his first goal of the tournament to tie the game 1-1 early in the second period.
But the gutsy effort put forth by the team in the quarter-finals was something to build on for the remainder of the season, said Thornton.
“It said it all when our (ill) captain Keegan Jones came off the ice unstrapping his helment so he could be sick into a bucket and then looking up, said, ‘I’m good to go.’ It showed the others what they can accomplish when they really want it,” Thornton added.
In the quarter-finals, Tendeck helped hand the Calgary Northstars their only loss at the Mac’s, registering a 4-0 shutout.
Chin got credit for the game winner as the Giants scored twice in both the first and third periods against the Southern Alberta club. Jones, Josh Latta and Brett Didyk also scored.
The Giants won Pool 2 with an unbeaten 3-0-1 record. The Burnaby Winter Club-based club opened the tournament with a 1-1 draw against the Calgary Flames. Affiliate Brady Chin scored the Giants’ only goal.
Warm registered a 3-0 shutout against the Saskatoon Contacts, while Callahan Brebner, Jones and Jason Village – into an empty net – all scored in an 11-minute span of the third period to knock off the fourth-place Saskatchewan midget league club.
The Giants got key outings in a pair of 3-2 wins to lock up top spot in pool play.
David Tendeck made 47 stops to register the victory over the Northern Alberta league leader CAC Gregg Distibutors, while Latta tallied the game-winner from affiliate Kyle Kaufman with three minutes left on the clock.
In the Giants’ final pool game, Kaufman scored the game-winning goal with his first goal of the tournament in a 3-2 win over the New York Jr. Islanders.
Kaufman and Chin proved key contributors for the Giants, with four and three points, respectively.
Justin Wilson and Latta led the Giants in scoring with six points apiece, while Latta and Jones both posted a team-best three goals.
Austin McQuay became the second consecutive Giant to be named one of five scholarship winners at the Mac's. Last year, Quinn Thompson earned the honour for the Giants.
The B.C. league-leading Cariboo Cougars defeated Regina 2-1 in double-OT to win their first-ever Mac’s title.
The competition all augers well for the Giants’ return to league play this weekend.
“It will be a good competition. Our guys are learning how we have to play to win,” Thornton said. “Mac’s was a good example of how we need to play to win. I believe we have two of the best goalies in the province, if not Western Canada, and we’re going to build on out from there.”
The third-place Giants are on Vancouver Island this weekend for a two-game set against the South Island Royals.
