January 20, 2012
Posted in Alberta Edition, Midget
By Scott Fisher /
The Bisons offence came up empty at the worst possible time.
After racking up 24 goals through six games, the UFA Bisons couldn’t find the twine in the final of the Mac’s Midget Tournament.
Alexander Sharov scored a hat-trick as Russian squad Severstal/Lokomotiv beat the Bisons 5-0 to win the event.
Despite the loss, Bisons goaltender Wilson Sproule was named tourney MVP.
“Seven games in seven days is a lot,” Sproule told the Calgary Sun. “It was just one of those days.
“It was just one of those games where we couldn’t get our momentum going. Usually with our team, once we get one goal, it just keeps on coming.”
That one goal never came in the final.
But there were plenty along the way during the Strathmore based club’s magical run.
Alexander Bechtold and Owen Ferguson scored twice each in a curtain-raising 6-2 win over the Vancouver Giants.
Following a 1-1 tie with the Beardy’s Blackhawks, six different players scored as the Bisons erased a 4-2 deficit to beat Edmonton’s SSAC Athletics, 6-4.
Aaron Macklin scored and added an assist in a 3-1 victory over the Sherwood Park Kings.
Dale Nerland had an identical game as the Bisons doubled up the Calgary Flames 4-2 in a quarterfinal win.
Conner Bleackley scored the game-winner and the insurance marker in a 4-2 semifinal victory over the Prince Albert Mintos.
Here’s how the Calgary-based teams fared in the tournament, as well as the St. Albert Raiders, the only other Alberta team to qualify for the playoffs:
CALGARY NORTHSTARS
Bobby Zinkan had a goal and two assists as the Northstars opened the tourney with a 3-1 win over the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers.
Riley Whittingham and Sam Plaquin had two tallies and a pair of helps apiece in a 6-0 romp over the Tisdale Trojans.
And Plaquin followed that performance up with a hat-trick in 6-3 win over the Czech Republic and then scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over the Cariboo Cougars.
But the Northstars tournament ended with a 3-2 loss to the Prince Albert Mintos in the quarterfinals on New Year’s Eve.
CALGARY FLAMES
Mark Logan, Mitch Amatto and Nick Josephs had two goals apiece as the Flames opened with an 11-1 destruction of the Vancouver Canadians.
Jeremy McIntosh scored once and added an assist in a 4-4 draw with the eventual champion Russia Severstal/Lokomotiv and Devin McDonald turned in a 25-save shutout in a 3-0 blanking of the Red Deer Optimist Rebels.
The Flames dropped a 6-4 decision to the Saskatoon Blazers before falling 4-2 to the UFA Bisons in the quarters.
CALGARY ROYALS
Reid Duke, a fifth-overall draft pick of the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes, scored in the final minute to earn a 2-2 tie with the Saskatoon Contacts in their first game.
Spencer Johnstone and Brayden Beckley potted a pair of markers each in a 6-2 win over the Valley West Hawks before losing to the St. Albert Raiders (3-2).
Duke had two goals and five points in a 6-2 win over the Vancouver Chiefs.
CALGARY BUFFALOES
Brycen Martin, chosen second overall by the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos last spring, put up three assists as the Buffs kicked things off with a 7-1 beating of the York Simcoe Express.
After a 3-1 to the Prince Albert Mintos, John Edwardh had two goals and a helper in a 6-2 win over the Leduc Oil Kings and Andrew Weich notched the equalizer in a 5-5 draw with the Okanagan Rockets.
ST. ALBERT RAIDERS
Nick Hermary potted a pair as the Raiders started with a 4-1 win over the Vancouver Chiefs and Thomas Foster scored both goals in a 2-1 decision over the Saskatoon Contacts.
Kyler Hehn scored with four seconds left to beat the Calgary Royals 3-2 and Trace Elson had a hat-trick as the Raiders finished the round-robin with a 10-1 pounding of the Valley West Hawks.
Hehn and Kevin Miller eached scored twice in a 6-5 quarterfinal victory over the Beardy’s Blackhawks before losing 3-2 to the eventual champion Russian team in the semis.
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