Bisons reflect on Mac’s tourney

Tyler Lowey
Times Reporter

 

The Foothills CFR Chemicals Bisons were a bounce here and a bounce there from advancing at the 39th annual Mac’s Midget AAA World Invitational Tournament.
“We won five good games and lost one. We need to hold our heads up high with our performance,” said Bisons head coach Sandy Henry. “I really like our team. We learned some stuff this week about learning to compete against some of the top teams.”
The Bisons entered the holiday break and the Mac’s tournament not playing their best. Including an exhibition game with the Hungarian National team, the Bisons were 1-3-2 in their last six games.
Prior to the tournament, Henry mentioned that the Mac’s has an ability to spark teams’ energy like boosting a dead car battery.
As soon as the puck dropped in their opening game with the Red Deer Optimist Chiefs, the switch flipped.
It was the best they had looked in weeks: all four lines were buzzing, their forwards were bearing down on the defenders, and the Bisons defensive core was winning battles and getting pucks in deep.
Maybe it was playing in front of a couple hundred fans and a few scouts, or maybe it was just the hype of the tournament. But whatever it was, the Bisons looked like they found their groove from the beginning of the season – the same groove that was absent the past few weeks.
For Bisons captain Brett Trentham, it marked his third trip to the dance. The Bisons failed to make it out of the round robin stage, going 1-2-1 last year.
“We battled. It was a good experience for us to go far, but sometimes you just don’t get the bounces to go your way,” said Trentham. “I don’t think there was anything that I would have liked to change from our performance.”
Trentham only finished with a pair of goals, but they were timely and he was a key cog in one of the Bisons most productive lines.
Playing with Tarun Fizer and Brandon Machado, they were instrumental in the quarterfinal win over the Calgary Royals, scoring two out of the three goals.
The Royals game was huge for the team. Finishing undefeated in the round robin stage, they didn’t want to flame out in their first elimination game.
The Royals also played the Bisons tough earlier in the year. The two teams skated to a 3-3 tie at the Strathmore Family Centre.
Centre Payton Krebs tied for the team lead in scoring with two goals and nine points, and will look back at that Royals game as a lasting highlight.
“Beating the Royals was great. They gave us a thought battle and it was a good game. Those are the types of games you want to be a part of,” said Krebs. “It was an awesome tourney. The City of Calgary and the Mac’s organization put on a great show. I think everything happens for a reason and tonight was a good eye-opener as we move forward with our games starting next weekend.”
Goaltender Ben Laidlaw also thought the win over the Royals was the highlight for the tournament.
“For a goalie, there’s no better feeling than when the horn sounds and your team comes rushing over to you after a tough win,” said Laidlaw, who finished with 67 saves, a .940 save percentage and a 2.00 goals against average. “Grinding out games, scraping by – those are games you remember.”
If people were unaware of who Cole Clayton was before the tournament, they certainly know now. Clayton led the Bisons defence core with four points, including the winner against the Greater Vancouver Canadians with 6:30 to go in the third period.
“Cole surprises me every game,” said Grant. “He makes plays most [defencemen] don’t even dream about. I’m not surprised he was the clutch guy at the end for us. You breathe a little bit easier when the puck is on his stick.”
The Bisons draw well in Strathmore for crowd support, but playing in the Mac’s in front of a packed house each night can get the blood pumping a little quicker than normal.
“It’s awesome. I was surprised at how big the crowd was, it definitely got me going a little bit more,” said Clayton.
When the Bisons were steam-rolling teams at the beginning of the season, they were led head first by the dynamic top line of Jackson Salt, Zach Huber and Krebs.
Injuries and call-ups jumbled up the line as the holiday break neared, but they were reunited for the tournament.
Huber tied Krebs for the team lead in scoring with seven goals and two assists, highlighted by his hat trick against the Moose Jaw Generals Dec. 30.
“Our line is really clicking. It’s easy playing with talented guys like Krebsie and Salty,” said Huber. “We knew we were buzzing, chance after chance, it was eventually going to go in. Krebs made one hell of a pass across the seam and I was lucky enough it went in.”
For his efforts, Huber was named to the second tournament all-star team and won the Most Sportsmanlike Award.
One of the great what-ifs from the Mac’s will be, what if the Bisons didn’t pick up a pair of tournament-ending injuries to two of their deadliest forwards.
In the Canadians game, Blake Wells was drilled into the boards near his own bench and was forced to leave. In the quarterfinal tilt with the Royals, Salt was crunched into the glass near the penalty box and was helped off the ice.
“Wells is a big power forward and Salt is a tenacious forward; they are a couple guys that can bring some energy. I’m really happy with what we got from the AP’s, but I’m just sad that they didn’t get to experience the full tournament,” said Henry.
It was a huge blow to the Bisons punch up front. The two forwards have combined for 19 goals and 42 points this season. Even with the strong play from affiliated players Tucker Zdunich and Mark Zachary, having those two sit in the stands instead of on the bench leaves a gaping hole up front.
With an earlier-than-scheduled exit from the Mac’s, the Bisons will finally enjoy some much needed off time — something more than two days off.
The holiday break was anything but a break: playing eight games in 10 days logged a couple extra miles on the young guys’ legs.
“It was a tough way to end the tournament, but I thought we played well,” said Laidlaw. “I thought we grinded and battled throughout. The playoffs are going to be similar with the same type of atmosphere. I think we will take a lot of lessons from this moving forward.”
Henry gave his team a week off, before resuming with a practice Jan. 7. Then they’re back to their Alberta Midget Hockey League schedule Jan. 8 with a quarterfinal rematch against the Royals at Stu Peppard Arena. The Bisons return home to the Strathmore Family Centre Jan. 13 when they take on the Calgary Flames. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m.