The St. Albert Nektar Raiders have a chip on their shoulders after finishing out of the playoffs as the defending Mac’s Cup champions.
The No. 1 team in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League at 18-1-3 failed to qualify for the quarter-final round at the 25-team Mac’s World Invitational Tournament in Calgary with a third-place 2-1-1 record in pool four.
After blowing out the Calgary Royals 8-1 and Airdrie Bisons 6-2, the next two games were decided in the final minute of play as the Raiders lost 3-2 to the Cariboo Cougars and suffered a 3-3 draw with the Moose Jaw Warriors after leading by two goals.
“We had two big wins early on and then we played two really good teams so we got a good taste of what other teams are like and we’re going to use that and pound on the rest of the league for the rest of the year,” said left-winger Ty Cheveldayoff as the Raiders regrouped at Thursday’s practice in preparation for this weekend’s road trip against the Red Deer Chiefs and Calgary Flames.
“We have to focus on what we did positively and just channel that anger we have and try and play the best hockey we can,” Cheveldayoff said.
The 2019 AMHL provincial finalists have 10 games left to secure home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
“We’re going in with a fresh new face,” said centre Drew Kuzma. “We’re not going to worry about the Mac’s, just worry about our game and come back in and keep dominating.”
The Raiders were on the verge of clinching a playoff spot when Moose Jaw capitalized twice on the power play with the netminder pulled for the extra attacker.
“It was pretty tough on the boys,” Kuzma said of Monday’s result. “It was a horrible feeling to tie that last game.”
Kuzma’s third goal of the tournament, an unassisted effort halfway through the third period, made it 3-1.
However, with 4:14 to go, Moose Jaw was penalized for crosschecking and Koehn Ziemmer, the Raiders' top scorer at the Mac’s, was assessed a double minor for spearing.
Moose Jaw responded by pulling to within one with 2:41 to play and then with 22 seconds left scored the equalizer that knocked the Raiders out of tournament.
“One of our guys broke his stick so it was really a six on three almost. They were moving the puck around and just found the back of the net,” Kuzma said.
“Just a couple of bad bounces,” said Cheveldayoff, who potted his second goal against Moose Jaw late in the middle frame to snap a 1-1 tie. “It was pretty disappointing.”
The Raiders outshot Moose Jaw 12-5 in the third and 34-28 overall as Andreai Proctor-Ramirez (1-1-1, 2.37 GAA) started his third game of the tournament.
The come-from-behind decision put Moose Jaw (3-0-1) on top of the pool four standings ahead of Cariboo (3-1), a wild card team.
In the playoffs, the Calgary Buffaloes registered 6-2 scores against Cariboo in the semifinal and Moose Jaw in the final to finish 6-1 overall, the same record the Raiders posted last year as the first St. Albert male team to win the Mac’s.
In league play, the Raiders beat the south division-leading Buffaloes (16-4-3) twice in a one-week span by 2-1 scores after losing the 2019 best-of-five provincial final in three games to the Calgary squad.
Sunday's loss to Cariboo was as heartbreaking as the outcome was against Moose Jaw. Maddux Nollski tied it at one in the first and Kyle Norman tallied the go-ahead goal with 4:48 left the third, but with 2:44 to play Cariboo was penalized for tripping and after killing off the infraction slotted the winner with 31 seconds remaining.
“It was a rough loss against Cariboo,” Cheveldayoff said. “We were pretty mad about it, but then we all came together the next day because we really wanted to win that game and it didn't end the way we liked.”
Shots were 10-9 in the third and 26-25 for Cariboo with Proctor-Ramirez between the pipes.
Proctor-Ramirez leads all AMHL netminders in minutes played (806), wins (11), goals-against average (0.97), save percentage (.958) and shutouts (four) for the top defensive team in the league (1.40 GAA).
Ziemmer’s team-high five goals and seven points at the Mac’s came against the Royals (three goals and one assist) and Airdrie (two power-play goals and one assist).
The Royals (7-13-3) and Airdrie (3-17-2) are the bottom two teams in the south division.
Cheveldayoff was one of the brightest stars for the Raiders at the Mac’s with three goals and five points after collecting one goal and five points in 22 AMHL games.
“I had the hockey gods on my side,” Cheveldayoff said of his breakout performance. “It’s the turning point in my year and I’ve got to keep it up.”
The Grade 11 Memorial Composite High School student spent last season with the midget 15 PAC Saints in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League and complied 18 goals and 33 points in 34 games, plus a team-high 76 penalty minutes.
The line combination of Cheveldayoff, Kuzma (four points) and Nollski (one goal and three assists) was another tournament highlight for the Raiders.
"We stuck to what worked for us and we just generated a bunch of chances,” said Cheveldayoff, 16,
“We were working it good down low, getting pucks to the net and finishing our checks,” added Kuzma, 17, a Grade 12 Bellerose Composite High School student who played for the KC Pats in the AMHL last season and in 34 games had four goals and 10 points.
Today at 4:45 p.m. the Raiders faceoff against the Chiefs (11-8-3) in Red Deer and Sunday’s start time is 2:30 p.m. against the Flames (12-7-5) at Father David Bauer Arena.
