Bisons primed for Mac’s tournament

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The youthful UFA Bisons are thrilled to be playing in the 37th annual Mac’s tournament in Calgary starting Boxing Day.
For some of the players it’s a dream come true to play in the tournament; for others it’s a nervous experience at first.
“Well we grew up watching this tournament growing up around Calgary and area. It’s just been a tradition and it’s a real great honour to play in it and not just one year last year but two years,” said assistant captain Austin Cameron.
“I definitely want to take up more of a leadership role than last year for sure, and just help the guys that are first time coming in, the 99’s, to cool their nerves.”
The team feels confident going in and will try to use size to their advantage.
“I think we have a lot more returnees and a lot more confidence, our team is definitely bigger and I think overall we have a better chance than last year,” said Cameron.
First-year captain Shane Fraser is excited to lead the Bisons into this prestigious tournament and lead by example.
“It’s a great honour, this is probably the biggest midget tournament in the whole world as you can tell with all these European teams coming over the last few years. It’s just a great feeling to be a part of it,” said Fraser.
He is hoping that the Bisons will make it out of their pool and go far in the playoff round.
“Obviously we want to make it out of our pool as one of the top teams, move on to the playoff round and maybe get a shot at the title,” said Fraser.
The captain added that it would be beneficial to win a pair of their homes games this weekend to go into the tournament with some momentum.
Assistant coach Sandy Henry has been around this tournament long enough to know what kind of competition level the Bisons will need to succeed in the tournament.
“I think we’ve built a hard-working identity, I think that’s what we hang our hats on. We’ve got a good skill level but I think we’ve improved that through the year,” said Henry. “I think our ability to play fast and hard work is going to be our strength.”
He emphasized that it will be important for the team to play their game.
“The important thing for us is getting over that initial nerves of the Mac’s. The Mac’s create this ambiance for guys, especially those who haven’t played in it before where they get a little too high emotionally,” said Henry. “I think early in the tournament obviously we’re looking for wins. I know we’ve had some ties in the past and at the end you don’t want to be in that formula if you can help it.”
The approach to the tournament will be the same as a normal regular season game: rolling all four lines.
“I don’t think we’ll change anything, we’ll roll our all four lines and I think that’s the only way you can be successful in the tournament,” said Henry.
The Bisons will open up against the Vancouver NE Chiefs (10 a.m.) on Boxing Day at the Father David Bauer Arena. The team will then host their feature game on Dec. 27 (Max Bell Centre, 2:30 p.m.) versus the San Jose Jr. Sharks, before taking a day off. The Bisons will then take on the SSAC Athletics (Dec. 29, 5:15 p.m., Max Bell) and the Tisdale Trojans (Dec. 30, 11:45 a.m., FDB).