Alberta squads have disappointing NAHC tournament

Despite having some success, the two Alberta teams came up short at this year’s National Aboriginal Hockey Championships.

Both the Alberta boys and girls squads had their medal aspirations conclude after suffering quarter final losses at the tournament, which ran May 2-8 in Ottawa.

NAHC action attracted 18 entrants, 10 in the boys’ division and eight in the girls’ category.  Teams consisted mostly of bantam and midget players who are 18 and under. But the girls’ clubs were allowed to carry a maximum of five over-agers, who were either 19 or 20.

 The Alberta boys side was downed 8-5 in its quarter final contest against Ontario North. In the consolation match, featuring squads that had lost their quarter final battles, Alberta lost to Ontario South 5-3.

Danny Buffalo, who coached the Alberta boys team, was hoping for some better playoff performances, because his club fared well in its final round-robin match, settling for a 3-3 tie against Saskatchewan, which went on to win the gold medal.

“We should have won that game,” Buffalo said. “The guys came out really good (against Saskatchewan). They skated. And they took the body.”

Buffalo said his team did not display that sort of intensity in its other tournament contests.                         “In the other games it didn’t happen,” he said. “But with kids, you don’t know what to expect.”

In other round-robin action, Alberta registered a pair of victories, 8-2 over New Brunswick and 7-3 against Nova Scotia. Its lone round-robin loss was a 6-1 setback against Manitoba.

Saskatchewan took the gold medal in the boys division hammering Manitoba 8-1. Quebec’s team, which was called Eastern Door and the North, downed Ontario North 10-7 in the bronze medal game.

Buffalo believes pre-tournament uncertainties hindered his team this year. Alberta traditionally stages tryout camps in December. But those were pushed back to January as details regarding tournament dates and location were slow in coming. At one point, it was unclear if the event would even happen.

Some elite Alberta players were unable to attend the January tryouts, noted Buffalo. As a result, the team was young and inexperienced.

“I had three bantam players and about four or five (first-year midget players) that can come back next year,” he said. “I didn’t think we had a choice this year because we didn’t have the tryouts in December.”  

As for the Alberta girls squad, it only managed to win one of its five tournament matches. Its lone win was a 6-1 decision against the North West Territories in its final round-robin contest.  Alberta was downed 8-2 by Manitoba in its tournament opener and also lost 9-3 against Saskatchewan in round-robin action.  

The Alberta side though had a pair of close contests in its playoff games. Alberta was edged 3-2 by Ontario South in a quarter-final match then defeated 7-6 by EDN in the consolation playoff.

Manitoba, which won all six of its tournament games, captured the gold medal in the girls division,  edging Ontario North 2-1 in the final.  Ontario South took the bronze medal with an 8-3 victory over Saskatchewan.