By Ryan Laverty /
It’s an affliction common to even the highest paid of players—major numbers and a major impact through the regular season, hibernation when it matters.
That challenge has been lobbed at the likes of pros Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau for years around the NHL.
So it wouldn’t have been uncommon for Fort Saskatchewan Winner’s Way Ranger Tyson Baillie to somehow lose his touch when the post-season rolled around.
It would have been understandable, with tighter checking and a lot more pressure for the 14-year-old to fall off the pace he set during the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey league season when he led all scorers with 46 goals and 79 points in 32 games.
Well, three series into the playoffs it would seem Baillie is free from any symptoms and may have just saved his best performances for last.
Through eight playoff games Baillie has tallied 14 goals and 11 assists to once again lead the league.
And his overtime winner over the SSAC Southgate Lions on March 12 catapulted the Rangers into the Alberta provincial finals against the Calgary Bisons.
“We talked to Tyson before the playoffs about how important he was to our team before the playoffs, so he understood what we needed from him,” said Rangers head coach Levi Lypka.
“But this situation is really nothing new to him.
“He faced the same thing in Atom and in Peewee. At this time of year, the best players seem to find a way to step up their game and that’s what Tyson has been able to do.”
The Rangers-Bisons provincial final will not only pit two of the top teams from the AMBHL’s regular season – both finished atop their respective divisions – but also two of the league’s top scorers
Bisons sniper Jay Merkley finished the year with 71 points in 32 games, eight fewer than Baillie, and is widely touted as a potential top-10 draft pick at this summer’s Western Hockey League Bantam Draft.
Still, while Baillie and Merkley will no doubt trade shots throughout the series, the Rangers captain has credited team effort as the reason for their success.
“We have been successful because everyone on the team is contributing,” Baillie told the Fort Saskatchewan Record following their series win over Leduc in the Charger North final.
“In the second game, only a couple of guys showed up and we lost.”
Those who did show up during the Rangers’ only playoff loss this year were Josh Sinatynski, who tallied a goal and three assists in the 7-6 loss, Boe Geislinger and Dylan Stang.
Sinatynski, like Baillie, has been a force for the Rangers all season, while Geislinger and Stang provided evidence that the Rangers have more than a couple of guys who can tickle the twine.
Lypka said that type of play will need to continue if the Rangers’ season is to last more than another two weeks.
Still, after winning the Dodge North division, the Rangers have already met their pre-season goal so, for the coach, everything else is just gravy.
“Westerns were always something we had in the back of our minds, sure, but we never wanted to get too far ahead of ourselves, so we said our goal was to win our division,” Lypka explained.
The Alberta Bantam AAA provincial final is a best-of-five series beginning March 20 and running through March 30, if necessary
The winner of that series will head to Burnaby, B.C. April 8 to 11 for the 2010 Western Canadian Bantam Hockey Championship. |
