It was not an unexpected result.
The Cariboo Cougars had their title hopes dashed in a 7-1 loss to the Shattuck-St. Mary’s Sabres in the Circle K Classic U18 hockey tournament round of 16 playoffs Monday afternoon in Calgary.
The Sabres went on to beat the Phoenix Junior Coyotes 6-1 in a quarterfinal Tuesday morning to improve to 5-0. Through five games they’ve outscored their opponents a combined 40-10 and they are showing all the signs they have what it takes to complete a Circle K threepeat.
Considering their history of attracting top-notch players to the private school in Faribault, Minn., it’s no surprise Shattuck-St. Mary’s is blowing away opponents in one-sided victories at the 32-team tournament.
The Sabres’ list of alumni players reads like a who’s-who of NHL stars, including Sidney Crosby, Nathan McKinnon, Jonathan Towes, Zach Parise, Jack Johnson, Clayton Keller and Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland and Teddy Blueger.
There have been a few Cariboo Cougars who went on to play in the NHL, including Brett Connolly, Brandon Manning and Justin Almeida. But it was obvious early on in Monday’s game they lacked the depth to match that of the Sabres.
Despite being outshot 19-5 in the first period the Cougars trailed only 1-0, but the Sabres scored five unanswered goals in the second period to put it out of reach.
Tournament leading scorer Alex Donovan scored three goals and set up two others and linemate Gavin Katz had a three-point game with two goals and an assist.
The 17-year-old Donovan now has nine goals and 18 points through five games, one point ahead of Katz (7-10-17) in the scoring race, followed by 14-year-old phenom Maddox Schultz of the Regina Pat Canadians (6-7-13).
The Cougars broke up Xavier Wendt’s shutout bid with a power-play goal from Jack Tidsbury with 1:36 left on the clock.
Shattuck-St.Mary's peppered Cariboo starting goalie Andrik Lygas with 34 shots in 35:15 of game action and with the Sabres leading 5-0 late in the second period Jaxon Dikur came in to replace him the rest of the game. The Cougars were outshot 53-17.
Cariboo opened the tournament with an 8-5 loss to Sioux Falls, then beat Detroit 3-0 and Okotoks 3-2 in overtime to advance to the playoff round.
The Cougars won the annual Christmas tournament in 2014, when it was known as the Mac’s Invitational.
The first-place Cougars (17-3-1-1) return to action in the BC Elite Hockey League Jan. 11-12 in Burnby against the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs.
