A steady diet of elite Prairie midget hockey might be exactly what the run-and-gun Greater Vancouver Canadians need for what’s going to be a challenging second half of the season.
The B.C Major Midget Hockey League club will be spending the holidays at the 38th annual Mac’s Tournament - marking the first time in four years they are making the trek to Calgary for the prestigious event. The Canadians were one of four B.C. teams to earn invitations thanks to an impressive start to the regular season.
Their reward is being part of a round-robin group that includes the current No. 1 ranked Major Midget teams in Alberta (Foothills CFR Chemical Bisons) and Saskatchewan (Moose Jaw Generals). The Red Deer Optimist Rebels (10-3-7) will be no pushover either. The schedule also includes the Alaska Oilers and it all gets started on Boxing Day.
The Canadians are loaded with players already signed with the Western Hockey League or B.C. Hockey League clubs.
Among them is 15-year-old forward Sasha Mutala, taken sixth overall by the Tri-City Americans in last spring’s WHL Bantam Draft.
Team captain, Scott Atkinson, 16, was recalled by the Edmonton Oil Kings last week for a brief stint after nearly making the WHL club out of training camp. Six-foot-2 blueliner Owen Williams is another 16-year-old who began the season with the Regina Pats. Richmond’s Chris Douglas, the team’s leading scorer, signed with the Langley Rivermen last week.
The Canadians currently have four players among the league’s top 10 scorers, with blueliner Nathan Kelly joining Douglas, Mutala and Atkinson.
However, all the firepower hasn’t translated into a dominating record.
After the fast start, the Canadians have just two wins their last eight games. They managed only a single point in a recent two-game series with longtime rival Vancouver Northwest Giants and earned a split last weekend in Kelowna against the second place Okanagan Rockets, thanks to a 7-4 victory on Sunday. They now sit sixth in the highly competitive 11-team league with an 11-9-3-1 record. It won’t getting any easier over the final half of the season with the bulk of their remaining games on the road, including a trip to Prince George for a pair against the first place Cougars (21-2-1)
“For the most part, we don’t have problems putting the puck in the net,” said Greater Vancouver head coach Phil Alalouf. “Even our defence is thinking offence and that’s where we are getting burned at times. At one point we were the highest scoring team in the league but we also had a ton against. The back side of our season is going to be about us playing better defensively.”
The Giants limited the Canadians to only a second period goal from Ben Landon en route to a 3-1 victory on Dec. 11 at Planet Ice in Delta. Greater Vancouver generated some excellent chances in the dying minutes but couldn’t solve netminder Jesse Makaj, before surrendering an empty net goal.
“The first period we didn’t battle enough. The second we showed up and the third was a good fight,” continued Alalouf. “I guess, we are just expecting a little bit more.
“The league is really tight this year which is what you want and the second half of the season has now started. We want to be moving up in the standings and into the top four.”
That’s where Alalouf is hoping the Mac’s tourney will toughen his team up for the stretch run.
“These kids have a lot of spirit and are a very tight team,” he added. “But the drive, physical play and little bit more compete is what we are looking for. (Laughing) Sometimes I feel like we are a European team when we need to be a little bit more like a Canadian team.
“We are going to see that in Alberta. That’s for sure.”
Atkinson had a hat trick in the win over Okanagan last Sunday as the Canadians scored three unanswered goals in the third period. Mutala added a goal and two assists. The Rockets won the series opener by the same 7-4 score.
