The Greater Vancouver Canadians will be looking to earn some much needed momentum next week when they participate in one of the most prestigious minor hockey tournaments in the country.
The B.C. Major Midget Hockey League squad leaves for Calgary on Christmas Day for the 33rd annual Macs Midget Tournament.
Greater Vancouver opens play on Boxing Day against the Calgary Flames who currently sit in second place in the Alberta Midget Hockey League's Southern Division.
Games follow against Russia's Severstal/Locomotiv and the Saskatoon Blazers, before concluding preliminary play against the AMHL division leading Red Deer Rebels.
"We certainly have a challenge ahead of us," said Canadians head coach Leland Mack. "Nothing is going to come easy and we will have to be on top of our game. Hopefully this tournament will bring out the best in the kids and we can take that into the second half of the season."
When the Canadians resume league play, they will find themselves in a dog fight just to be in the playoffs thanks to dropping three of their last four games, including a sweep in Nanimo against the seventh place North Island Silvertips.
Greater Vancouver fell 4-3 in the opening game and the Silvertips took the series finale 4-1 to move within four points of their opponent.
"We are definitely slumping right now," continued Mack. "Our goaltending has not been very good, we have been suspect in our own end of the rink and the power play has dried up. You are going to go through these stretches in a season and we need to get out of it in a hurry to be competitive in Calgary."
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