The Mac’s Midget Hockey Tournament is a holiday tradition here in Alberta with the first cup being won back in 1978 by a team from Red Deer when it was actually the CP Challenge Cup.
Seven days of hockey featuring 25 male teams and 15 female teams from across Canada, the United States and Europe will take part in this year’s event which draws close to 100,000 spectators.
Some high profile NHL’ers have Mac’s experience like Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, Trevor Linden and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
The head coach of the Red Deer Midget AAA Optimists Chiefs has not been a part of the tournament on the ice but understands the history behind the tournament is deep.
“I think it’s definitely a novelty that is important to the player and important to us to get involved in that,” said Brandin Cote. “For one it means we’ve had a good start to the year and second you get to test yourself against some new teams.”
The Chiefs are currently in second place in their division of the AMHL with a 14-6 record and Cote says playing against some very talented teams in the Mac’s tournament is a good measuring stick for his players.
“The European teams are interesting because they just run a real possession, flow type game so as a coaching staff you have to make adjustments for that,” he said, adding there isn’t much time to make those plans so for the most part you just roll with it once you’re there.
“Our message is always the same. You prepare to compete and work and if you do those things you give yourself a pretty good chance to win.”
The Chiefs will play four games in six days and Cote says the experience alone is valuable but anything could happen with such a tight schedule. A team could go 0-4 or 2-2 or 4-0.
“There could be some positives and negatives. There could be some injuries, hopefully not but overall just take in the experience, enjoy it, learn from it.”
Some of his players say the Mac’s gives them a chance to maybe work out some kinks in their game or allow them to establish themselves as one of the better teams in the country given the variety of top teams they will face.
Third year forward Landon Siegle has played against teams from the U.S. and Europe as a bantam player so he has that experience but he’s looking forward to the crowds taking in these games.
“There’s a lot more hype and you’re pretty jumpy and I think it gets you going,” he said. “There’ll be some nerves for sure but you just try to get that out of your mind and just play your game.”
First year defenceman Adam Sandstrom says getting to the tournament was a goal this team set at the start of the year so it’s special to accomplish that with this group .He’s looking forward to being on the ice against teams from around the world.
“It should be fun. It will be cool to see how you stack up against the competition from all over the place and it’s a good stepping stone for us.”
The Chiefs started the AMHL season on fire posting an 11-1-1 record in the first 13 but hit a bit of a rough patch lately with a tough schedule and some players sick but they are still a force to be reckoned, said Cote.
“Our main goal would be to get through the round robin and get to the playoffs and then you never know what can happen.”
The Chiefs open up against the Tisdale Trojans on Boxing Day, followed by games against the Austria U 18 team, the Vancouver Northwest Giants and the Calgary Buffaloes of the AMHL.
