Either you’re winning or you’re learning and that’s what the St. Albert Tire Warehouse Raiders did as semifinalists at the Mac’s Midget AAA World Invitational Tournament.
“Overall it was just a great experience making it that far. We proved that we were among the elite teams there but obviously we learned a lot because we didn’t win and we’re going to take the lessons that we learned from the Mac's and hopefully transfer them over to the rest of the season and into playoffs,” said assistant captain Brady Nicholas at Thursday’s practice.
The first Mac’s appearance for the Raiders since 2012/13 ended with Sunday’s heartbreaking 1-0 semifinal loss as the Red Deer Chiefs scored in the third period.
“It takes a 20-man unit to win those big games and it’s the little things that win championships and unfortunately we couldn't get a bounce or anything,” Nicholas said. “Those are the games you learn from. You learn to capitalize on your chances and to make the most of the opportunity that is provided.”
The first-place north division team in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League finished 4-2 in the 25-team competition that started on Boxing Day.
“It’s a pretty exciting tournament,” said right-winger Austin Spiridakis. “With big competitions like that there are lots of highs and lows and we just figured out how to cope with those and keep pushing through.”
The Raiders skated into the playoffs as the top team in pool 1 and in Sunday’s quarter-finals Nicholas tallied twice in the 2-1 victory against the Calgary Northstars. His second goal was a shortie in the third and the game knotted at one.
“It was a great pass from Erik Boers. He beat their defenceman and gave it to me and I just had to put the puck in the net,” said Nicholas, who opened the scoring in the first and the Northstars pulled even before the period ended.
“We really dominated in that game,” Spiridakis added. “They’re usually high offence and we kind of limited them in that game.”
Evan Fradette was between the pipes against the Northstars and Mitch Reidy was in net against Red Deer.
In league play, the Raiders (13-8-4) lost 4-3 to the Northstars (13-5-3) in game three of the regular season and 2-1 to Red Deer (16-3-5) Nov. 5.
In pool play, the Raiders won the tournament opener 4-3 against the Calgary Royals, lost 5-2 to the Tisdale Trojans and rattled off victories of 5-1 against the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds and 6-3 against the Hungarian national U18 team en route to the playoffs.
Eddie Gallagher, who skated on a dangerous line with Nicholas at centre and Spiridakis, led the Raiders in scoring with five goals and 10 points and was joined by defenceman Brett Bamber on the second all-star team.
Mason Rezewski, a defenceman and captain of the Raiders, was also a Mac’s scholarship recipient.
The Raiders will build on the foundation of the Mac’s for a long playoff run that hopefully leads to the Telus Cup national championship in April at Sudbury, Ont.
“We did very well at the Mac’s. There were some top teams from all across North America and Europe there so that is definitely a confidence booster and hopefully that will show in our regular season play here,” said Spiridakis, who potted a pair in the third against the Royals (12-6-4) and the second goal was the winner with 43 seconds remaining.
“I was in front of the net and then one of my teammates (Gallagher) passed it out there and I just put my stick towards the goalie and chipped it in,” said the first-year midget of scoring against the team the Raiders battled to a scoreless draw Nov. 12.
The Raiders have 10 games left to secure a first-round playoff bye in the north.
“We're just going to try to dial it all in, bring our whole package together, work on the little things, work on chemistry with our lines and chemistry with our power play and just try and go into playoffs flying,” said Nicholas, a second-year Raider who turns 17 on Tuesday.
The first game after the Mac’s is against the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (6-17-2) today at 2:30 p.m. at JRC Arena.
Sunday the Raiders and KC Pats (13-9-2) hook up at 2:15 p.m. at Bill Hunter Arena.
The Pats are two points behind the Raiders with a game in hand in the race for the division pennant.
“It’s a massive game,” said Nicholas, a Grade 11 Bellerose Composite High School student.
Spiridakis, 15, agreed.
“The first game we played against them we lost (3-1 Oct. 14) so we definitely want this one a little bit more,” said the Grade 10 St. Albert Catholic High School student. “We’ve just got to find some offence. We have to get pucks on net, drive wide and score goals. We also have to play good defence.”
Spiridakis might be the youngest Raider in team history to commit verbally to an NCAA division one team. The graduate of the 2016/17 bantam AAA St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres picked the Quinnipiac Bobcats in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Quinnipiac is based in Hamden, Connecticut and was one of four potential post-secondary schools Spiridakis checked out.
Carter Savoie, a teammate of Spiridakis with the Sabres who is a forward with the Northern Alberta Xtreme elite 15s at St. Francis Xavier High School, also verbally committed to the Denver Pioneers of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.
“It’s pretty exciting. It’s definitely something to look forward to in the future. It makes me work harder every day because my goal is to get there and get a good education while still playing a high level of hockey,” said Spiridakis, who has recorded six goals and 12 points with the Raiders after compiling 30 goals and 58 points in 35 games with the Sabres.
