A pair of UFA Bisons who call Blackie home will represent their province at the elite U16 Western Challenge Cup in November.
Blackie residents and UFA Midget AAA Bisons teammates Brady Reagan and Mason McCarty were named to Team Alberta’s 20-player roster for the tournament featuring the four Western Canadian provinces to be held Nov. 1 to 4 in Calgary.
“I had a rough start to the season, I wasn’t playing too well, playing hurt,” McCarty said. “I was kind of sitting by the phone and pretty nervous because I hadn’t played too great, but getting the call was awesome.”
Fighting off a broken elbow suffered at the U16 evaluation camp in August stalled McCarty’s early development in his jump from the Okotoks Bantam AAA Oilers to the UFA Midget AAA Bisons this season.
“The start was a bit rough playing hurt and learning the new system and the new style,” McCarty said. “In Bantam I could kind of do things myself, but in Midget there’s five other guys on the ice with the goalie and you’ve got to use everyone, play the system and do the structure.
“But I think I’ve picked everything up well and everything is coming along pretty good.”
McCarty, the Red Deer Rebels’ fourth round pick in the 2012 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft, is raring to get on the ice after coming up just short in the Alberta Cup as a silver medalist for Team South.
“I’m very excited, very pumped,” McCarty said. “Right now I’m just focusing on UFA trying to chip in and get the wins, but when the time comes I’ll definitely be ready.”
Reagan wasn’t counting his chickens on making Team Alberta after recently moving to Blackie from Penticton, where he tried out for B.C.’s team in the summer.
“I definitely had to make an impression,” Reagan said on the challenges of making a name for himself with the Team Alberta brass. “The first time I met them was in Strathmore and they were getting ready for Alberta U16 tryouts and it was pretty stressful and exciting to have them watch me play with the UFA Bisons.”
After coming through the Okanagan Hockey Academy Bantam ranks, Reagan is getting accustomed to life in the Alberta Midget Hockey League.
“We got off to a rough start, but we’ve got a good team and I think we’ll have a good season this year,” Reagan said.
Skating and agility are at the forefront of the 15-year-old McCarty’s game which should work nicely with the U16 Challenge Cup being played on the Olympic ice surface at Calgary’s Father David Bauer Arena.
“I’m pretty good laterally in movement and my skating and the big ice surface like that I think will benefit me a lot actually,” he said.
Reagan, a smooth-skating six-foot-two 200-pound blueliner, said the extra space at the Calgary rink should be a boon to his game as well.
“I’m a rushing defenceman and I see the ice fairly well,” said Reagan, a Grade 10 student at Foothills Composite High School. “We have big ice in Strathmore so I think I’ll be used to it.”
Team Alberta head coach Bryce Thoma said his squad was put together with an eye on where the games were to be played.
“I think we put some emphasis on hockey smarts and hockey IQ as well as skating,” said Thoma, who’s also an assistant coach with the Red Deer Rebels.
The two UFA Bisons impressed Thoma in different ways.
“Mason’s a kid that brings a lot of what we were looking for,” Thoma said. “He’s a smart player and works extremely hard.”
McCarty’s elbow injury shortened his on-ice display at the Team Alberta evaluation camp, but two games at the tryouts did enough to impress Thoma.
The bench boss didn’t get a chance to evaluate Reagan at the camp, but saw the 15-year-old blueliner play at the B.C. Cup in the spring and liked what he saw.
“He’s a really solid player,” Thoma said. “A very well rounded and good defender.”
Team Alberta won both Western Challenge Cups since the tournament debuted in 2009. Thoma said he’s built a team with depth at every position in the pursuit of a third championship.
“Playing four games in four nights everyone has to play,” he said.
The Western Challenge Cup goes Nov. 1 to 4 at Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary.
For full schedule and ticket information go to www.hockeyalberta.ca.
