A repeat run to the finals of the Mac’s Midget AAA Hockey Tournament wasn’t in the cards for the UFA Bison this year.
The team, which is based out of Strathmore and has several Airdrie players on its roster, finished the tournament with two losses and two ties a year after losing in the gold medal final to Severstal/Locomotiv from Russia.
“I think that’s always the expectation, (to return to the final),” said Bisons head coach Jeremy Friesen. “In a tournament, you need a lot of luck and bounces to go your way and this year wasn’t our year.”
The Bisons opened its first game of the tournament with a comeback 4-4 tie against the Saskatoon Contacts.
The Bisons took a 2-0 lead on goals by Matt Forchuk and Brody Valette, but after the Contacts got on the board in the last few minutes of the first period, Saskatoon scored three unanswered goals in the second frame to take the lead.
The Bisons stormed back thanks to tallies from Connor Boyd and Mark Nerland to tie the game. Nerland’s goal came with less than a minute left in the third.
The team’s second game against the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes would follow an almost identical script.
The ‘Canes were leading the Bisons 4-1 heading into the third period, but Kurt Fraser, Mackenzie Bauer and Mason McCarty all scored to bring the final score to 4-4.
The Bisons dropped its third game 2-0 to the Lethbridge Pronghorns and finished the round robin with a 5-3 loss to the Okanagan Rockets. Fraser added a second tally against the B.C. team, while Brady Reagan and Markson Bechtold scored for Strathmore.
Friesen said the two third-period comebacks in its first two games played into the last two games.
“We created a tendency to start more slowly that we’d like,” he said.
“In the ties, we had to battle back in the third period and that can get emotionally draining and physically tiring. One of the games we were expecting to win, but we didn’t do the things we talked about.”
The international tournament has become a staple in Calgary over the last 34 years and featured teams from across Western Canada, Alaska and Carolina, as well as a team from the Czech Republic.
A number of NHL alumni have played in the tournament, including Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla and Zach Parise. Friesen said the tournament is excellent exposure for the players playing in front of CHL, CIS and NCAA scouts.
“It’s also an opportunity to compare ourselves against the top teams in Western Canada,” he said. “We see where we need to improve in playoffs and if we’re going to challenge for a national championship, these are teams we’re going to need to try to go through.”
With playoffs around the corner, the Bisons are sitting in fifth place in the Alberta Midget Hockey League’s (AMHL) Chrysler Division.
Friesen called the first half of the season “a rollercoaster.” The team started the season 3-5, but a six-game winning streak gave them a boost up and padded them against a shaky December in which it went 2-7-2.
One source of struggle for the team was its goaltending. The two goaltenders the team started the season with left midway through the fall, but Friesen said it’s a situation that’s been solved thanks to Richard Palmer, who came in and took over the starting position.
“He’s really done a good job of solidifying that position for us,” Friesen said.
Now, with only eight games left in the season, the team’s turning its attention for the push to the playoffs.
“We need to make sure our execution and attention to detail is a lot better than what’s its been,” Friesen said. “Our special teams aren’t anywhere near good enough for us to be successful.”
