The Southwest Cougars hosted the much anticipated 2012 Regional Telus Cup in Virden, and wow, what a weekend. The hockey was great, the new Virden and District Multiplex drew rave reviews, and players were treated like royalty.

The first games Thursday afternoon saw the Winnipeg Wild jump out to a 3-0 first period lead against the Saskatoon Contacts. The Contacts scored a pair of power play goals in the second and evened the game at 3. The third period was scoreless and the game ended in a tie.

Opening ceremonies followed with piper Douglas Caldwell leading the tournament officials to center ice and the four teams took part in the ceremony which saw Cougars President Grant Moffatt, and Treasurer Sam Phillips drop the puck for the official faceoff.

The Cougars then faced off against the Northern Ontario rep the Kenora Thistles. Cameron Whyte opened the scoring 7:22 into the game with a shorthanded goal with Jordan Thomson and Ben Williams in on the goal. Hudson Morrison scored 3 minutes later from Sutton Olson and Jordan Greig, who returned to action after missing the league final.

Morrison scored on a power play 7 minutes into the second from Olson and Greig. Sheldon Kowalchuk then finished the scoring 2 minutes later when he knocked down a centering pass from Tanner Lewis and Michael Fortin and back handed in to make it 4-0. Brian Archibald finished with 14 saves for the shutout. The Cougars fired 22 at Davy Fisher in the Kenora net.

The Winnipeg Wild played the early game Friday and opened a 1-0 first period lead and then scored 4 unanswered goals in the second for a 5-0 win over the Thistles. Kevin Pochuk scored a pair of goals with singles going to Ryan McDonald, Sean Higgins, and Remi Laurencelle. Ty Edmonds earned the shutout with 26 saves with Davy Fisher turning aside 33 shots in the Kenora net.

The Cougars and Contacts faced off in the late game Friday with Saskatoon scoring a pair of first period goals and 2 more in the third as they walked off with a 4-1 win. Dawson Leedahl and Austin Calladine 90 seconds apart midway through the first.

The teams played a scoreless second period. Rourke Chartier and Carson Stadnyk scored 37 seconds apart midway through the third to go up 4-0 as they fired 50 shots at Brian Archibald on the night.

Jordan Greig broke Mack Shields shutout when he scored a power play goal with 2 minutes left in the game as the Contacts picked up the win.

The Contacts and Thistles faced off at 12:30 on Saturday afternoon and saw the Thistles fail to score a goal in the weekend. Rhett Kehoe scored a first period goal. Ross Hnidy made it 2-0 in the second and Austin Calladine scored a pair of goals to make it a 4-0 final as Brandon Beaulieu turned aside 42 shots. Mack Shields earned the shutout as the Contacts clinched first place with the win.

The final game in the round robin between the Wild and the host Cougars, a tie game and the Wild would advance, a Cougar win and they would advance.

The teams played a scoreless first as the put on a defensive battle. Daylon Creasy and Sutton Olson worked the puck in the Wild end and got it to David Heath who went to the net and opened the scoring 6:44 into the 2nd period. The game saw referee Trevor Peluk look to control the outcome of the game and assessed the Cougars a pair of penalties 20 seconds apart 11:09. The Wild evened the score 20 seconds later on a point shot by Kevin Pochuk. Sean Higgins scored 23 seconds later as the Wild scored twice with Peluk picking up helpers on both goals.

The Cougars went on a power play 35 seconds later at 12:35 and Jordan Greig sent the fans into frenzy as he found the back of the net with Hudson Morrison and Sutton Olson picking up the apples. The second period ended with the game tied at 2. The game continued to be a defensive battle despite the officiating.

The Cougars were blessed in the third when referee Peluk called Christian Stockl and Remi Laurencelle, a pair of the Wilds top line with hooking penalties on the same stoppage of play at 16:03

The Cougars took advantage of the 2 man advantage and Cameron Rowat teamed up with Lucas Oliver 57 seconds later to give the Cougars a 3-2 lead. A big crowd was on the edge of their seats as the clock ticked down with the Cougars hanging on.

It was 17:37 when referee Peluk send the Cougars Cameron Whyte to the sin bin for a slash, and then with time winding down and the Wild doing everything to tie the score he calls Lucas Oliver for tripping with 1:35 left in the game. The Wild got Alex Moodie to the bench for a 6-3 man advantage
With pace makers racing and the Cougars clinging on for dear life they managed to hang on for the win as they had three face-offs in the last 40 seconds to the right of Archibald. The game was a huge win for the Cougars as Brian Archibald stopped 25 shots while Alex Moodie stopped 15 in the Wild net.

The win by the Cougars put an end to the Wild's season, as the hosts moved to Sundays final.
The final game ended up starting an hour later due a power outage in the Virden area and then the lights almost went out again when referee Peluk stepped on the ice for the second game in a row.. A player could be impeded at one end and no penalty, and then go to the other end and have a penalty called. The only difference in this game was he wasn't the factor he was the night before.
Hudson Morrison teamed up with Jordan Thomson to open the scoring 4 minutes into the game when he came out of the corner and beat Mack Shields with a back hand. Tournament MVP Kolten Olynek took a pass from Shields and raced down the wing and wired a shot top shelf to tie the game. The Contacts made it 2-0 midway through the second when Rourke Chartier found the net from Olynek Carson Stadnyk then made it 3-1 3 minutes later. The Cougars out chanced the Contacts in the second as both goalies made 12 saves.

Rourke Chartier goal from Olynek with 4 minutes left basically turned the lights out on the Cougars run and with Brian Archibald on the bench Colby Hainsworth finished the scoring as goalie Mack Shields picked up his second assist of the game making it a 5-1 final.

The Saskatoon Contacts were the best team in the tournament and will represent the best in the west in Leduc at the National Telus Cup.

Brian Archibald and Jordan Greig were named to the Allstar team, with Kevin Pochuk and Remi Laurencelle from the Wild joining Rourke Chartier and Austin Calladine from the Contacts on the podium.

The weekend was a showcase of the best in the west and Virden came through in flying colors.