SAHA hoists Mac’s Cup

By James Tubb on April 12, 2022.

NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB Members of South Alberta Hockey Academy, donning the Mac’s championship jerseys, hoist the Mac’s Cup after defeating the Vancouver NE Chiefs 4-2 Sunday afternoon in Calgary to win the 43rd World Invitational U18AAA Tournament.

South Alberta Hockey Academy put itself on the map this weekend.

The Dunmore-based hockey academy’s U18 men’s prep squad won the Mac’s Invitational Tournament championship in Calgary on Sunday after beating the Vancouver NE Chiefs 4-2.

SAHA’s championship came in their first appearance at the famed Mac’s tournament, making them the first hockey school to win the international tournament.

Head coach Brayden Desjardins said the win was special to be a part of.

“To put our name on the map like this is massive, I can’t speak to how hard these guys have worked,” Desjardins said.

Desjardins spoke to the News after receiving a water bottle shower from his players, and said the close-knit nature of the team helped them through adversity in the tournament.

“They pushed and got two early in the third and we’re good, we stayed together on the bench, guys were positive.

No one was negative and we just kept playing,” Desjardins said. “I think you only get that if you’re a family, and I think that you ask any of these guys, that’s who we are so it’s exciting.”

Shane Smith opened the scoring 34 seconds into the championship game and assisted on Aiden Oiring’s fake-out ‘Michigan’ lacrosse-style goal 8:56 later. Smith faked the move, sending the Vancouver netminder one way before Oiring took the puck from behind the net and scored on the empty side.

Smith said it was a move they had thought about doing before but were too nervous to pull off. He laughed when asked how they weren’t nervous on the biggest stage of the season.

“I just got the puck and I was screaming at Aiden and I was like, ‘come on Aiden,’ and then we just tried it and it worked out,” Smith said.

Smith scored again in the second period, finishing off a pass from fellow Medicine Hat Tigers prospect Josh Van Mulligen, as he ended the game with two goals and an assist.

His performance in the finals and in the playoffs leading up to it earned him the tournament’s playoff MVP and player of the game.

The 17-year-old said the honours means a lot, but gave credit to his teammates.

“I definitely couldn’t do it without my teammates,” Smith said. “We fought hard and I’m just thankful to have them on my side.”

One of those teammates, Tigers prospect Zach Zahara, made 15 saves in the final and said the win was special.

“It’s probably like my first time winning anything meaningful,” Zahara said. “So it means everything, being my last season of minor hockey, it’s huge. This is our first real season as SAHA and it’s just huge to have our place on the map now.”

Vancouver scored twice in the third period to bring them within one of SAHA with 11:41 left in the game. Desjardins called a timeout, and said after the game he had a simple message.

“It’s 10 minutes away from winning the Mac’s tournament guys, if you’re telling me at the start of the year we’re 3-2 with 10 minutes left you’re sitting pretty good,” Desjardins said. “So I think they were able to regroup and it was really good, a simple message and they executed.”

Desjardins said after sitting in the stands and watching his dad, Tigers head coach Willie Desjardins, win big games, it was pretty exciting to win one of his own.

Elijah Anderson sealed SAHA’s victory with an emptynet goal to capture the 43rd Mac’s Cup championship.

The Mac’s tournament was played this weekend due to the original tournament, set for late December, being postponed due to COVID-19.

After a COVID-shortened debut season in 2020-21, SAHA finished the Canadian Sport School season with a 21-11-4-1 record. With their name etched on the Mac’s Cup, Desjardins said the goal for next year is simple, “Let’s do it again.”

“I think that’s the biggest thing is we wanted to put our program on the map, and now we want to be a team that peak teams are aware of now. We’ve made a name for ourselves,” Desjardins said. “Now teams will be ready so it’s what we do now that teams are ready for us. So it’s super exciting and I can’t say enough good things.”

On top of Smith’s playoffs MVP, SAHA forward Elijah Anderson and goaltender Brock Lott were named to the Mac’s second all-star team.