U15 AAA SEAC TIGERS netminder Adler Ames battles a snow shower while attempting to make a save in the Tigers final game of the 48th annual Hockey Hounds tournament on Sunday afternoon. The Tigers would finish in fourth place after losing 6-1 against Airdrie.-NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
They may not have won it all, but the South East Athletic Club Tigers were the talk of the 48th annual U15 AAA Hockey Hounds tournament this weekend.
The Tigers finished in fourth place after losing 6-1 to Airdrie on Sunday afternoon. It’s the best finish from a Medicine Hat team in more than a decade.
SEAC head coach Tyler Keen says he was proud of his guys and in time will fully appreciate their top-four placing.
“I’m extremely proud, I think the solace will come a little later – after a loss it is hard to digest some of that stuff,” Keen said. “I know from my experience in this tournament, it’s not easy thing to do to win and I am just happy with the effort and the compete the boys showed from game one all the way until our sixth game of the weekend.”
The Tigers went undefeated in the round robin and outscored their opponents of Prairie Storm, Northern Alberta Xtreme and West Vancouver 18-5 over the three games. The Tigers beat Leduc 3-1 Saturday morning to put them within one game of the final. They ran into a 3-2 loss against a Martensville Marauders team that went on to win the tournament.
That loss set up the Tigers game against Airdrie for third. Keen says he thinks his group is coming out of the tournament as a better team.
“Airdrie is a good team, there’s a reason they are first in our division,” Keen said. “Going through the weekend we had a lot of success early, I think that we definitely came out better than we went into the tournament, which was the goal going into it. The boys are obviously upset right now but there’s lots to be learned from a game like this, and as long as we take it the right way and get back to work I am sure we’ll have a real push in our regular season.”
Tigers defenceman Hudson Gainer said after the loss it was awesome for his team to finish as well as they did, and said it’s a difficult tournament to compete in.
“It’s a tough tournament, lots of people here, the teams were good, just a tough one,” he said.
Keen added he was happy with the buzz around the Tigers throughout the weekend and appreciated seeing people in the stands supporting them.
“It’s been exciting. I think every rink has been the most packed I have seen in a long, long time,” Keen said. “It’s good to see the community coming out and supporting us. The boys really appreciate it, the crowds have been awesome, there’s a lot that goes into a tournament like this. The Hockey Hounds have been amazing, our parents have been great, the boys have been great, obviously my coaching staff has been there supporting us throughout this whole thing and I want to thank all of them.”
When asked what the Tigers would carry from the loss, Keen paused and said he wants guys to keep the memory fresh.
“Obviously just remember this feeling the next time we play a meaningful game,” Keen said. “You only get so many of them in a season and we have a little bit more than what we showed today. But at the end of the day they are 13- to 14-year-old kids and I think they battled as hard as they could given the six games in the weekend.”
Besides finishing in the top four, the Tigers did well at the tournament award show on the Saturday. SEAC’s Alder Ames was named the top goaltender of the tournament and was named to the all-star team. Ames said it was nice to be recognized for his play and credited a change of approach for his success.
“I’m feeling pretty good about my game now, I went into this tournament with a different mentality than my other games and it worked for me,” Ames said.
“I just focused on making one save at a time, just focusing on stopping the first shot then the second shot and so on.”
Gainer was awarded the annual $2,500 scholarship for one SEAC player from the Maser family and the Medicine Hat Tigers. Gainer said he owes the honour to is teammates.
“It’s an honour to get that,” Gainer said. “I have to thank my teammates, the boys for helping me get through all of this.”
