Preparations continue for St. Albert Nektar Raiders as the defending Mac’s Cup champions.
This weekend’s homestand for the No. 1 team in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League is the last dress rehearsal before the 42nd annual Mac’s Midget AAA World Invitational Tournament in Calgary.
“You practice the way you play, so the way we practice will determine how we play this weekend and if we play good, hopefully it will lead into the Mac’s tournament,” said forward Chase Visser.
Game times are 8 p.m. tonight against the Lethbridge Hurricanes (12-8-1) and 2:30 p.m. Sunday against the Calgary Flames (12-5-5) at Jarome Iginla Arena.
“If we come out with two wins, we’ll go into the Mac’s comfortable,” said left-winger Ronin Pusch. “Everyone is excited and anxious to get to the Mac’s. It will be a good experience and great bonding for us.”
In pool four of the 25-team tournament, the Raiders play the Calgary Royals at 9 a.m. Dec. 27 at Max Bell Centre, Airdrie Bisons at 11:45 a.m. Dec. 28 at Father David Bauer Arena, Cariboo Cougars at 8 p.m. Dec. 29 at Father David Bauer and the Moose Jaw Warriors at 12:30 p.m. Dec. 30 at Flames Community Arena.
The first-place finishers in five pools and three wild cards advance to the quarter-finals. The final is Jan. 1 at the Saddledome.
“We’re ready to play. We really want to do well,” Visser said. “We’ve got a good pool so we’ll definitely be up for the challenges against Cariboo and Moose Jaw and all the other teams.”
The Raiders entered the Mac’s with five returning players – Jaxon Dube and captain Mathieu Gautier as forwards, defencemen Tye Pedersen and Breck McKinley and netminder Andreai Proctor-Ramirez – from the first St. Albert male team to win the Mac’s.
The midget AAA St. Albert Kal-Tire Slash were the 2009 female division champions.
The Raiders finished 6-1 with playoff victories of 3-2 in double overtime against the Canadian Athletic Club, 6-3 against the New York Islanders and the come-from-behind 4-3 final against Lethbridge, the 2018 AMHL provincial champion and Telus Cup national bronze medallist.
The only other St. Albert team to qualify for the men’s final was the 1990 Eagle Raiders.
At this year’s Mac’s, the spotlight will shine bright on the Raiders with 17 wins in 20 games in league play.
“It’s kind of I would say intimidating for other teams seeing us come back,” Pusch said. “There are going to be lots of teams watching us and seeing what we’re doing, but we’re putting in the work and we’re prepared for it.”
The Raiders are on pace to surpass last season’s 19-11-4 mark as the north division pennant winners before going 6-5 the playoffs (1-4 in overtime games) as provincial finalists.
The 17-1-2 record includes seven one-goal victories for the top defensive team in the AMHL with a goals-against average of 1.30.
“We win the majority of the games just by working together hard,” Visser said. “We play with detail. We play the right way and it always ends up working out. We get the goals when we need them. We stop the goals when we need to stop them. Our PK has been unreal and on the power play we’ve been scoring when we need to score so it’s been really good all around.”
The lone defeat was 2-1 against the Sherwood Park Kings (6-11-5) as all the goals were scored in the opening 20 minutes, including the winner with 19 seconds left in the period. Shots were 40-18 for the home team.
“We could’ve had it, but it just ended up being a tough loss,” Pusch said. “Otherwise everything’s been going good. It’s been a great season.”
The Raiders solidified their status as the team to beat in the AMHL with a pair of statement wins a week apart by 2-1 scores against the Calgary Buffaloes, the team that swept the Raiders in the best-of-five provincial final as the first two games were decided in overtime, including the penalty shot in the extra period of the series opener.
“It really shows our resilience how we’re always up for the challenge and how we’ll always be ready to go,” Visser said. “We love playing the good teams. Everyone just bonds together when the games are tough and we finish hard.”
Visser, 16, closed out the team’s second game against the Buffaloes Dec. 8 in St. Albert by sniping the winner with 54 seconds remaining as Pedersen and McKinley assisted on his second goal this season.
“I remember seeing the puck flip over the D-man’s stick and then I just had the opportunity to go for it so I kind of got position and then as soon as I got the lane I looked up and I shot and as soon as I seen it hit the post I knew it was in and I threw my hands in the air,” said Visser on spotting the go-ahead goal against Jared Whale (10-3, 1.31 GAA), the south division player of the month for November.
“It went above the pad underneath his glove and right off the post and in. It was just an amazing feeling. It was really awesome,” said the Grade 11 Paul Kane student.
Visser, a right winger/centre on a line in recent games with Noah Wilson and Matthew Reidy, has six points in 20 games after compiling 26 goals and 40 points in 34 games with the 2019 Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League provincial champion St. Albert Flyers.
The ninth win in a row and 13th in 14 games for the Raiders was the 6-0 result against the KC Pats (6-11-4) on Raiders Day in St. Albert last Saturday at Go Auto Arena.
The Raiders racked up 41 shots while Proctor-Ramirez (10-1-1) was tested only nine times.
Proctor-Ramirez, the north division player of the month in October, is the leading AMHL netminder with a 1.00 GAA, .956 save percentage and four shutouts and is tied with Whale in wins.
Carson Ironside (7-0-1, 1.75 GAA, .930 save percentage) of the Raiders is also among the league’s top puck stoppers.
Pusch, 17, sealed the deal early against KC with a natural hat-trick before the game was 10 minutes old and Gautier assisted on all three goals.
“It was cool. I started and had a good shift first shift and then second shift I got my first one and then third shift I got my second goal and then fourth shift when I got my third one (on the power play) the bench was just going crazy,” said the Grade 12 Bellerose student.
Pusch’s third goal was his seventh for 13 points in 20 games.
Last season Pusch was leading playoff scorer in the Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League with 12 goals and 22 points in 11 games for the St. Albert Source for Sports Crusaders. His teammates on the Raiders, Maddux Nollski and Reidy, ranked second and third in playoff scoring with 17 and 14 points, respectively, as the Crusaders repeated.
Pusch and Nollski were also co-leaders on the Crusaders in the regular season with 38 points apiece and Nollski scored a team-high 27 goals in 32 games.
“I feel like the guys I was with last year are the same guys this year. We all work as a team,” Pusch said. “It’s a good group of guys.”
