A league foe, a vaunted sports school and a visitor from the Empire State.
The Okotoks Bow Mark Oilers will have a little bit of everything in their grouping in Pool 8 of the 2022 Circle K Classic, formerly known as the Mac’s Tournament, from Dec. 27 to Jan. 1 in Calgary.
“For us, it’s exciting to play a team out of New York,” said Bow Mark Oilers head coach Chris Beston. “We know Lloyd, we tied them once this year and NAX, we don’t know a lot about, but we hear they’re fairly good too.
“We know we’ve got to be good and play our best to compete at this tournament.”
The unknown in the group is the Bishop Kearney Selects.
The prep school based near Rochester, New York has a 12-7-1 record in league play, competing against teams in the northeast United States.
“They’ve beat some good teams like that St. Louis team that’s coming, they beat them 8-2, they beat Chicago Mission that’s coming,” Beston said. “They’re allowed 19 year-olds and they have eight of them so it should be tough.
One of the top sport school programs in the province, the Northern Alberta Xtreme sit in seventh in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League.
They’ll look to continue the foothold sport schools made at their maiden voyage in the tournament last spring when the Southern Alberta Hockey Academy won the top prize.
“The (sport schools) can recruit from anywhere in the world so they have that advantage,” Beston said. “But it is hockey and if we bring our A-game, I feel like we can compete with anybody.”
In the Bobcats, the Oilers will line up against a team in similar standing in the Alberta Elite Hockey League.
Lloydminster is 10-9-1, good for fourth in the North Division. Okotoks is fourth in the South at 9-9-2 and features the second most productive offence in the 16-team provincial loop.
Okotoks and Lloydminster skated to a 4-4 tie in the only meeting this season between the inter-divisional competitors.
“We’re built almost as exact same teams,” the coach added. “We play a similar style and hence that we tied 4-4 even after overtime.
“We’re very competitive with them and that will be a good game, for sure.”
Long-known as the Mac’s Tournament, the Circle-K Classic continues a legacy that began in 1978 of top U18 AAA competition featuring Canadian, American and international teams.
The 2022-23 field features a tournament record 32 teams in eight pools.
The last incarnation of the tournament was postponed from the holiday season to April due to pandemic-related issues in the winter.
“It’s been three years that they’ve had it at this time,” Beston said. “Even with it in April last time, there were guys that were working and couldn’t get it off.
“Now, over the holidays, I imagine the rinks will be a little fuller and a little more excitement. We’re definitely excited to witness (it) in its true form.”
Okotoks had a terrific run at the most recent tournament, winning all three of its round-robin games and advancing through to the semifinal round.
The Oilers have six returning players from the 2021-22 team.
“Last time around, in reality, it was that we were finally healthy,” Beston said. “We had that month break to get healthy and we got back at ‘er. Everyone was raring to go and it was almost like a new season again, everything clicked at once, we got some good goaltending, good bounces and great defence.
“That’s what it takes at this tournament, you’ve just got to get hot at the right time.”
The coach knows from experience.
Beston won the 1998-99 Mac’s as a top forward with the UFA Bisons.
New this year, the competition will be held exclusively at the Max Bell Centre and the Seven Chiefs Sportsplex & Jim Starlight Centre.
For more information on the tournament, visit circlekclassic.ca.
Circle K Classic Tournament Schedule
Dec. 27, 6:15 p.m. Seven Chiefs Arena 1. Bow Mark Oilers vs. Bishop Kearney Selects
Dec. 28, 12:45 p.m. Max Bell Centre. Bow Mark Oilers vs. NAX
Dec. 29, 4 p.m. Seven Chiefs Arena 2. Bow Mark Oilers vs. Lloydminster Bobcats
