Saskatoon Stars and Cariboo Cougars Win This Year's Mac's Tournament
The Saskatoon Stars and Calgary Fire faced each other for the first time all tournament after handily winning their semi-finals. The Stars opened the scoring with 1:20 left in the first (Dietz off Rongve), but the Fire rebounded 20 seconds later to tie it at 1-1 (Buston, unassisted). The Stars turned it up in the second period, and were rewarded when Sophie Shirley scored off Nara Elia to make it 2-1. The Fire came into the third ignited, and after a handful of dangerous scoring opportunities, Jaslin Sawatzky evened the score 2-2. The Stars stormed back, however, and Nara assisted Shirley again on a breakaway to take the lead at 3-2. With less than two minutes in the game, the Fire pulled their goalie, and the Stars’ dynamic duo, Shirley and Elia, struck again when Shirley scored an empty-netter.
The Stars would win the tournament for the first time since 2010 beating the Fire 4-2, in a game without a single penalty. This has been the best showing for a Calgary team since 2009, when the Calgary Flyers were runner-up to the St. Albert Kal Tire Slash.
In the male division championship game the first wild card, the Regina Pat Canadians played the Cariboo Cougars, the third wild card team. With less than two minutes into the game Cougars’ forward, Wesley Shipton, put the first goal on the board. A few minutes later Canadian’s Owen Sillinger answered with a goal from Riley Woods and Blake Dempsey to tie the game 1-1. In the second and third periods both teams battled hard, but neither team was able to take the lead. The Canadians pulled ahead in shots and even saw a few close chances, but Cougars’ goalie Griffen Outhouse saw his team to overtime. In the first overtime period the Canadians had power play but were unable score, taking the game to a second overtime. With just over a minute into the second overtime period, Cougars’ Chase Dubois capitalized on a puck that bounced off of the boards, winning his team the gold medal.
On behalf of this year’s tournament we would like to congratulate the Saskatoon Stars and the Cariboo Cougars on their championship wins! We would also like to thank all of the players, coaches, volunteers, sponsors and fans for making the 37th Annual Mac’s Midget AAA Hockey Tournament a success!
By Kaitlin Ward and Katherine Newton
Photo by Michael Kwas
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