St. Albert's midget AAA teams lost their respective semifinals Saturday to the eventual championship winners at the Mac's tournament in Calgary.
The Raiders suffered a playoff heartbreaker when Nikita Kvartalnow sniped the game winner with 1:56 left in regulation time as Russia Severstal/Locomotiv battled back from a two-goal deficit to win 3-2.
"We had them where we wanted them and we just let it slip away," said Sandro Pisani, head coach of the 5-1 Raiders.
In the final the Russians blanked the UFA Bisons 5-0.
In the female division the Slash dropped a 6-3 decision to the Regina Rebels.
"It was a great accomplishment to advance as far as we did and extra special to see the boys do the same. We each were only one game away from a television spot and it would've been an incredibly proud moment for both our programs to be in the final," said Terry Sydor, head coach of the 3-1-1 Slash.
Regina went on to beat the Edmonton Thunder in the final 3-2 in overtime.
Red-hot Raiders
In pool play two of the four wins by the Raiders were by one goal and in the quarter-finals they edged the Beardy's (Sask.) Blackhawks 6-5. Kyler Hehn and Kevin Miller each recorded two goals and one assist and Wyatt Hoflin stopped 21 shots.
"We obviously played really well in the round robin. In the quarter-final we played OK but not great and then we responded with a better effort in the semifinal," Pisani said. "Throughout the tournament we really bought into the team concept and really played within our structure. We understand that if we play this way we can have success against anyone."
Ty Stanton's shot from the blueline in the first period opened the scoring in the semifinal against Russia. Early in the second Tyler Van Os made it 2-0. Late in the period, the Russians scored against netminder Landon Bow. They notched the equalizer on a point shot 26 seconds into the third.
With seven minutes to go the Raiders had a five-on-three power play but couldn't capitalize.
"That was really the turning point in the game," Pisani said.
Shots were 30-27 for the Raiders. Stanton was the team's player of the game.
"Obviously with any of the European teams, and that Russian team specifically, they are very skilled. For the most part we did a real good job of containing them and defending with numbers and not allowing them to go one-on-one, but we made a critical error when we had them down 2-0. It kind of cost us and they seemed to get momentum off that error," Pisani said.
Hehn was the top point producer for the Raiders in the tournament with 12, including four goals. He was named to the first all-star team at forward and was also the recipient of the most sportsmanlike player award.
Tyler Dea was also presented with a tournament scholarship.
Trace Elson finished second in team scoring with eight points. Thomas Foster was the top goalscorer with five. Hoflin was 4-0 between the pipes.
After giving up four goals in four games in pool play, the Slash fell behind 3-0 in the opening 12 minutes of the semifinal and trailed Regina 4-2 after the first period. Jessica Kampjes scored twice and Ashley and Deanna Morin assisted on both goals.
"We really took the play to Regina and had a lot of pressure and early shots but we took a penalty and they scored just before we had completed a strong kill. We needed a good pushback shift but unfortunately they scored again. Then a fluky lob goal came next and we were down 3-0," Sydor said. "We finally got a couple power plays of our own and responded with a pair of goals. We had the momentum back, but again penalties reared their ugly head and we gave up a five-on-three goal in the last minute of the first."
The Slash struggled the rest of the game to grab the momentum away from Regina.
"While we worked hard to try and get back into the game, our style reverted to a lot of individual efforts and long shift lengths," said Sydor. "We failed to get the puck deep into their end and create pressure to cause turnovers. Eventually we just ran out of gas, but not from a lack of effort or desire. We just didn't have anything left.
"In a tournament like this, as you have success, each game becomes more important and you expect your best game is yet to come, but we just didn't have it on Saturday in the semifinal when we really needed it."
Kampjes completed her hat trick in the last minute of play. The Slash player of the game finished the tournament with eight goals and two assists and was named to the second all-star team.
Regina outshot the Slash 30-16 as netminder Emily Mitchell suffered her first loss in five games. She was a repeat winner of the tournament's best goaltender award and was a first-team all-star selection.
Nicole Simmonds and Lindsay Cox shared the plus/minus award. Cox also received a tournament scholarship.
