A touch of fortune and a refusal to be denied his hockey dreams have an Okotoks netminder looking squarely at the Mac’s Midget tournament as the main man in the crease for the UFA Bisons.
Richard Palmer tried out for the UFA Midget AAA Bisons over the past two seasons and was turned away each time, making his current spot on the roster as a mid-season call-up all the more rewarding for the 18-year-old netminder.
“I really wanted to make this team all year and then when I didn’t at first it was kind of disappointing,” Palmer said. “Once I got cut I thought I missed out on my chance to play at the Mac’s (tournament) but when I got the call to come up it was the best thing ever.”
The Mac’s Midget tournament, Dec. 26 to Jan. 1 in Calgary, features the best Canadian AAA teams and European select teams in a round-robin and single elimination playoff format.
Palmer, who started the season as a dominant third-year goalie with the Okotoks Midget AA Oilers, was the benefactor of an open spot in the Bisons’ goal when previous starter James Fisk quit the team for personal reasons at the beginning of November.
“All throughout camp (Palmer) was really close for us and looking back we may have made a mistake letting him go in the first place,” said Bisons head coach Jeremy Friesen. “He’s stepped right in and hasn’t skipped a beat and has been that steady influence for us back in the pipes.
“He’s instilled a bunch of team confidence into our guys and I think our record over the past 10 or 11 games shows that.”
Palmer, the South Central Alberta Hockey League’s top goaltender and MVP of the Midget AA Oilers last season, immediately made his presence known at the Midget AAA level by picking up six straight wins to begin his tenure with the Bisons.
“The flow of the (AAA) game is a lot smoother, a lot faster. It took a while to get used to, but I feel like I’m used to it now and I’m loving it,” Palmer said. “My first official weekend as being part of the team we played the top-two teams in the North and I played both those games and we ended up winning both.”
Palmer has started 10 of 11 games since joining the Strathmore-based Midget AAA team. He’s helped the Bisons to a 6-3-2 mark since his call-up to spark a mid-season turnaround for the previously struggling Bisons (10-11-2).
“When I came on I think the coaches liked what they saw and we went on a win streak which we seemed to enjoy because they had been struggling at the beginning of the year,” Palmer said. “And they kept giving me starts.”
He is the lone full-time goalie on the Bisons’ roster at the moment, fellow Okotoks netminder Grayson Sharpe is no longer with the team, and Palmer has been backed up by a string of affiliate goalies.
“We’re hoping to make a decision and find someone that’s going to be with us long-term before the Mac’s,” Friesen said of the back-up situation. “If we go on a run like we did last year it’s too much to ask one goalie to play seven games in seven days.”
The Bisons advanced to the Mac’s final last season in large part to the exploits of goaltender Wilson Sproule who took home the tournament MVP and top goaltender honours.
Friesen said he is optimistic the situation in the crease this year is equally promising.
“Goaltending isn’t an issue for us,” Friesen said. “It’s not something we even have conversations about anymore. We know what we’re going to get every day with Richard in the net and it’s up to the rest of us to make sure we do our job.”
Palmer’s reliability even allows the Bisons to overcome momentary lapses of reason on the ice, which is crucial in an elimination tournament setting.
“We know that we can bend a little bit and breakdown here and there and he’s usually going to be there to bail us out,” Friesen said. “In the Mac’s tournament you have to have a lot of things go right and goaltending is a big part of that.”
Despite his limited time with the Bisons, Palmer has prepared for participation in the tournament ever since he witnessed Calgary play the Russian Selects at the Mac’s eight years ago.
“I remember watching it in Atom I think it was for the first time I went to one of the Mac’s games at about 10-years-old and ever since I saw that I always wanted to play in that tournament,” Palmer said. “Pretty much it’s the only thing I’ve been thinking about for the last month getting ready for it.
“Going into the tournament knowing I’m going to be playing almost all, if not all, of our games is a little nerve-wracking. But I think I’ll be able to handle it.”
