The best team in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League not invited to the Mac’s tournament is proving it belongs in the annual international competition during the Christmas break in Calgary.
The St. Albert Raiders, winners of five in a row and undefeated in 12 games at 11-4-7, have more points than two of the three north division teams going to the Mac’s.
And of the nine AMHL teams in the tournament only the two division leaders – Canadian Athletic Club (16-4-2) in the north and Calgary Buffaloes (13-5-4) in the south – have more points than the Raiders.
“We were a little disappointed obviously being left out of the Mac’s so we want to show everybody they made a mistake in not inviting us,” said centre Riley Smith. “It’s been a driving factor for us and it kind of woke us all up a little bit too.”
This is the second year in a row the Raiders were not picked for the 25-team event and they took the snub to heart.
“Not making the Mac’s made us realize we were a good enough team but we weren’t showing it so we had some incentive and something to play for after that,” said left-winger Cam Mazur.
The Raiders averaged 4.75 goals and 2.58 against during their 9-0-3 streak (5-0-2 at home and 4-0-1 on the road), including a 6-0-3 November. They capitalized 12 times on the power play and twice while shorthanded and the opposition converted 12 power-play chances and scored one shortie.
The Raiders were also outshot in half of the 12 games.
“We’ve been playing really well as a team and working hard,” Mazur said. “Everything has been clicking. We picked up our offence, we made our power play better, our D zone has been way stronger and our goalies have been playing good.”
The Raiders roll into the weekend with games against the Oil Kings (8-11-4) today in Leduc at 2:15 p.m. and Sunday against the Calgary Flames (9-7-7) at 1:15 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
“We want to go into the break hot because we’ve been on a roll lately so two wins would be nice,” Mazur said. “Because we didn’t get to the Mac’s we want to show that we should be there and prove some people wrong so these are statement games.”
The ninth win in 12 games was last weekend’s 6-3 decision against the Calgary Royals (12-7-5) as the Raiders raised their home record to 6-3-3.
Three unanswered goals in the third period powered the Raiders to victory.
“It took a while to get going but once we got our legs going we started making simple plays and getting pucks to the net and eventually things started going our way,” Mazur said. “It was a good game to show that we’re good enough to pull those types of games out.”
Ryan Peckford, a centre on U16 Team Alberta for the Canada Winter Games, potted a pair and singles were supplied by defencemen Kole Bryks, Brendan Kallis and Luigi Naccarato and left-winger Colin Schmidt. Mazur and Cam Lockard picked up two assists apiece.
Mazur, 17, ranks fourth in team scoring with 15 points in 20 games and credits linemates’ Peckford (11 goals, 21 points) and Lockard (eight goals, 12 points) for his offensive success.
Last season the Grade 12 Bellerose Composite High School student finished sixth in the Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League scoring race with 34 goals and 66 points in 31 games for the playoff champion St. Albert Crusaders.
The Raiders outshot Calgary 36-19 and Josh Dechaine (9-2-5, 2.98 GAA) was between the pipes.
“We had a lot of shots and early on in the season we weren’t getting many shots,” Smith said. “Holding them to 19 shots was pretty good too and we’ve got to keep building off that.”
Smith, 17, picked up one assist for 14 points in 16 games after an upper-body injury sidelined the six-foot-four skater at the start of the season.
The Grade 12 Paul Kane High School student cracked the lineup after posting 15 goals and 42 points in 29 games for the Crusaders last season. He has been a fixture on a line with sniper Parker AuCoin (18 goals, 31 points) and Schmidt (eight goals, 13 points).
“I’m just trying to help out the team as much as I can,” Smith said. “It’s nice playing with AuCoin and Schmidt. We have some good chemistry going.”
