The Southwest Cougars 2015-2016 season came to an end Tuesday night at the Sun Gro Centre in Beausejour.

Brendan Benoit stopped 24 shots as the Eastman Selects blanked the Cougars 5-0.

The Selects swept the best-of-five quarterfinal in three games and advanced to round two of the Manitoba "AAA" Midget Hockey League playoffs.

"Eastman really came out the gate," said Southwest head coach Dennis McNish. "They smelled blood in the water. They really put the pressure on early to try to get the game out of hand and see if we'd buckle under the pressure. They didn't rip it away from us completely in the first period but they did jump out to that two-goal lead. We were really taking some chances as the second half of the game went on knowing we had to come back and score. As a result, which is the risk you run, we were taking chances and then giving up chances and they piled a few more on."

The first place Selects won the series opener 3-2 last Friday in Beausejour and Kolten Kanaski scored the overtime winner Sunday in Souris as Eastman took game two 5-4 over the eighth place Cougars.

The Selects captain added two more goals in game three.

"Other than our dressing room and our parent group, I don't think anyone was giving us much of a chance," added McNish. "We felt like we could play some good hockey. We were really with them for two games, and when you look back, I think it's pretty clear we spent all our chips on the first two games and then we were completely out of gas come the third game. It was such a heartbreaker in game two especially after the stinger of game one, but that's the way she goes."

Southwest goaltender Rylan Rommelaere stopped 33 shots in the final game of the season.