By Laurence Heinen /
They had a feeling.
Heading into the Mac’s Midget AAA Hockey Tournament, the UFA Bisons had a sneaking suspicion that they would fare well at the annual event.
With nine first-year players on the squad, the Strathmore-based squad had a rough start to their Alberta Midget Hockey League season, but started to play better leading into the Mac’s tourney.
“We took a little while with the development of the players and we also struggled a bit out of the gate with some health issues,” said assistant coach Mike Bara. “We’re hoping that we’ve turned that page and that we’re on our way towards better things.”
The Bisons followed up on a 4-3 win over the St. Albert Sports Raiders on Boxing Day with a 4-1 triumph over the Saskatoon Contacts the following afternoon. After edging the North Island Silvertips 5-4 on Dec. 29, the Bisons lost 6-3 to the Red Deer Rebels the next day to finish the preliminary round with a 3-1 record.
A 4-2 win over the Yorkton Harvest in quarterfinal action on the morning of Dec. 31 set up a rematch against the Rebels later that afternoon at the Max Bell Centre.
Kirby Ruzesky scored twice, including the game-winning goal at 15:40 of double overtime, to lead the Bisons to a 5-4 win and earn them a spot in the tournament final at the Pengrowth Saddledome on New Year’s Day.
Unfortunately for the Bisons, they ran into a hot goaltender as Charlie Finn stopped 30 of 31 shots he faced in the final to lead the Vancouver NW Giants to a narrow 2-1 victory.
“We think we played well enough to win that hockey game,” said UFA coach Brett Goulet.
“Bounces go certain ways sometimes. They know that what they did this week is all about getting better. They’re not worried about the loss. They’re worried about getting better.”
Following the silver-medal performance, the Bisons went 2-1-2 in their next five AMHL games to improve their overall record to 11-12-6. That put them in sixth place in the Chrysler South Division Standings, just six points out of second spot and 10 behind the front-running Rebels.
With 19 goals and 15 assists through 22 games this season, Bisons captain Jason Swyripa sat in second spot in team scoring just one goal behind Cody Fowlie, who had played six more games.
Despite feeling under the weather throughout the event, Swyripa led the Bisons in scoring at the Mac’s with four goals and four assists and was chosen as the Tournament MVP and named to the First All-Star Team.
“The kid is all heart and he’s our everything,” said Goulet, noting that Swyripa had to miss the first Red Deer game due to illness, but couldn’t be kept out of the lineup after that. “ It’s phenomenal to see. There’s no reason why he should even be out of bed. You get a kid like that and it’s infectious. That’s why our team’s going to get better because you’ve got players like that around.”
Goalie George Merik also had a strong tournament and was named to the Second All-Star Team.
“He gave us a chance all week,” Goulet said.
Although he would have rather captured the Mac’s Cup, Swyripa took solace in his awards and the way that the Bisons have played over the past month as a team.
“It’s a big confidence builder for pretty much everyone on the team knowing that we are coming together the way that we are,” he said.
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