The 2019 Mac's Tournament ended just as it started for the Home Hardware Midget AAA Legionnaires, and not just in terms of identical scorelines in losses.

In the fourth-and-final game of the prestigious tournament on Monday, the Legionnaires saw a similar story line play out during a 3-1 loss to the Okotoks Oilers.

In shades of a 3-1 loss to the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers in their opening game of Group 3 play, the Legionnaires left their luck at home, but stayed in the game until late.

The Oilers went ahead 2-0 after the first period on a pair of goals from Sam Simard - the second of which proving to be a tough and unlikely break on an own goal by Swift Current.

Cash Arntsen put the Legionnaires on the board in the middle frame with just 1:35 remaining ahead of the second intermission, taking passes from Quinn Strang and Kalan Lind on the play.

That score held until late into the third period when, in identical fashion to the Fort Sask loss, the opposing Oilers slid in an empty-netter - this time with 1:16 remaining in the game - to seal it.

"It might have been our best game we played," said Legionnaires head coach Darren Evjen post-game. "Once again we were really good off the puck. We didn't give up a whole bunch."

Swift Current out-shot Okotoks 22-19 in the game, while also including shot-quality in their quantity.

"We created a lot of opportunities and chances to score, but just had a tough time finding the back of the net this week," Evjen said. "That was probably the biggest thing. We were in every game and played well in the games, but you've got to score more than one goal to win."

Justin Dueck made his lone start of the Mac's in the Legionnaires' finale, making 16 saves on 18 shots.

Swift Current finishes off with a record of 0-3-1 - last place in Group 3 - getting out-scored 13-5.

Background:

Legionnaires Fall in Tight Opening Tilt at Mac's Tourney
Legionnaires Shift into Must-Win Mode After Draw in Game 2 of the Mac's
Legionnaires Shut Out in Must-Win Game 3 of Mac's Tourney
"We tried to create - increase chances and our percentages on net - we did that," said Evjen. "We've just got to, at some point, turn the corner here and start putting some pucks in the back of the net."

However, the week comes with a pile of positives for the team that won't show up in the box score.

"We played well - you don't walk away here with a whole bunch of regrets besides scoring," Evjen noted. "Everything else - we feel pretty good about what we did. Hopefully that helps us with the second half. We've just got to come back and we've got to play more of the same, and try to find some scoring around the net."

"It puts it in perspective that we can play with anybody," Evjen added. "Our game's good right now. We realize how hard it is to win every night and how hard you have to play, and that's maybe a good thing. We played hard day in and day out here, and we know we have to do that."

The second half of the year shapes up to be a battle for the Legionnaires, though if their steady effort over the grind of four games in five days this week is any indication, they appear ready for said battle.

"You've got to take your five days off, you come back, you regroup, and you talk about what happened before Christmas and at the Mac's," said Evjen on the team's approach with still 10 days until their next SMAAAHL game.

"Just the importance of how hard we have to play and how much effort goes into play at this level. There's only seven weeks left when we come back - (get) ready to sell out for seven weeks and give ourselves the best opportunity to make playoffs and go further than that."

Just 17 out of 44 regular-season contests remain for Swift Current, who currently holds down the eighth-and-final playoff spot in the league. The Legionnaires' 13-12-0-2 record gives them 28 points in 27 games - five points up on the ninth-place Battlefords Stars with two games in hand.

Game 28 of the campaign pits the Legionnaires against a dominant Saskatoon Contacts squad (21-8-0-1), who's in a tie for first in the league. That tilt goes January 9 in Saskatoon - the first of three games in four days for Swift Current.