Recently South Zone official Matt Barker had an opportunity to attend the Macs’s Midget AAA tournament in Calgary from December 26 to January 1st. He has provided us with an inside look at the week that was.
My week at the Mac’s Tournament
I recently had the honor of representing the South Zone at the prestigious Mac’s Midget AAA Tournament in Calgary from December 26th to January 1st. I went there with the mind set to have fun and enjoy the experience no matter how many games I worked. Each team has the potential to play 7 games in total. 4 round robin and if you make it to the final, 3 more playoff games. For the referees, we each were assigned 4 round robin games to start. There were referees from Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton and Lloydminster all at the tournament and just like the teams, there is a fierce competition to earn the final. So how did my week go?
Day 1- December 26th
I was assigned one of the tournaments opening games between the Calgary Royals and Saskatoon Contacts at the Flames Community Arenas. I worked with fellow South Zone official Spencer Toth and Dean Foster from Calgary. The game itself was fantastic. As expected, the first game of the tournament had alot of energy and excitement. The score was 0-0 through 2 periods with not many penalties to call. The game itself had the potential to get chippy but the players towed the rope well in my eyes. Finally, in the third period there was some scoring. Calgary made it 1-0 early in the third. Saskatoon then answered back with 2 goals of their own setting up a fantastic finish. The Royals pulled their goalie and applied a ton of pressure. Finally, Hurricanes prospect Reid Duke banged in a rebound to tie the game with 50 seconds left. After the game we received a supervision. Overall the supervision went well. I did miss a couple of penalties in the supervisors eyes but hey we can’t catch em all.
Day 2- December 27th
I worked a game between Russia Severstal and Greater Vancouver on the second day at FDB. This wasn’t much of a game as Russia Severstal dominated the entire morning winning 8-1. My lineys were Curtis Robb and Amanda Allaire from Calgary. This game did not have much to call either. To my surprise the supervisor was Darren Loraas from the WHL. He had some really good comments regarding my game and I left feeling very confident about what I was doing.
Day 3- December 28th
Skating my third game in 3 days I was once again treated to a fantastic finish. This time it was the UFA Bisons and the Edmonton SSAC Athletic Club at Father David Bauer. My linesman were George Hart and Chris Rebus both from Edmonton. A really tight game through 2 periods, the third was an extremely fast and physical affair. UFA was down 4-2 but clawed their way back to 6-4 victory. Although I had done well, there were two questionable non calls that I myself knew I had missed. As expected, there was great discussion with the supervisor. In the end they were misses but in his eyes they were not consistent overlooks which did not affect my score as much.
Day 4- December 29th
I worked my last game of the round robin in the morning. The game was between St. Albert and Valley West (B.C.). Another blowout occured. I called four penalties against Valley West in the 1st period and St. Albert took advantage by going 4/4 on the PP. The game was over after 1 as the score was 5-0. The final score was 10-1. The supervisor did not have much to say other than it was an easy game and it would have been nice to see me in a more difficult game. This was my last game of the round robin and I had a feeling that because I had two easy games my play-off chances could be affected.
Day 5- December 30th
The last day of the round robin and I finally had a day off. Much of the day was spent waiting to see if I would get a play-off game. I did attend Slovakia and Sweden at the World Juniors to kill some time. Due to some set of circumstances, we did not find out what our assignments were until 1:30am the day of the quarterfinals. I was lucky enough to get one but it was at 9:00am that same day!
Day 6- December 31st
I was fortunate enough to earn a quarterfinal between the Calgary Northstars and the Prince Albert Mintos at Father David Bauer. The rink was packed and in my eyes, this was the game of the tournament. My linesman were Curtis Robb and Deion Foster. The score was 1-1 after one period. In the second period the Northstars ramped up their physical play but not in the disciplined way. They spent the majority of the period killing penalties but in the end they escaped with no damage. In the third both teams came out and played a disciplined game. The Northstars scoread early to go up 2-1 only to allow 2 goals in 2 minutes to fall behind again. This set up a fantastic finish. With the goalie pulled, the Northstars applied all sorts of pressure and earned a powerplay on a holding call (if I could call tackling I would have). Furious pressure ensued until a Northstars defenceman elected to continue playing with a broken stick. He kept the puck in holding the stick where it was broken leading to a penalty. This killed any chance they had a tying the game as there was only 20 second remaining. After the game, I felt I had a good chance to be selected for the final. My supervision confirmed what I thought and I headed home for a nap.
While I was sleeping my phone began to buzz frantically. I received a call from the supervisor of my quarterfinal letting me know I had been selected to work the Gold Medal game. I could not believe what I was hearing and not 2 minutes later received confirmation on a phone call from CZRC Executive Member Mike Roberts. He let me know that the competition was extremely close but I differentiated myself with the two tough calls I made in the final minutes of the QF. I was pumped because not only was this game to be televised but this would be my first time skating on Scotiabank Saddledome ice. A Happy New Year indeed.
Day 7- January 1st
I was selected to work the final with Justin Slimm (Calgary) and Cam Penstone (Lacombe). The game itself was very anticlimactic but what a thrill to work on dome ice. The game was between UFA and Russia Severstal. In the end, skill and fresher legs won out as Russia won 5-0. The highlight of the game for me was calling a diving penalty against the Russians. The crowd and from what I hear the broadcasters were appreciative of it. We finished the game and headed back to the room to reflect on the game and the week.
What a week it was! I could not have been more pleased about how it unfolded and this gives me a ton of confidence. I went into the week thinking I was a huge underdog to get the final but in the end it worked out. I would like to thank the SZRC executive for giving me the opportunity to go and showcase my skills. A big thanks is also in order to the CZRC for running a great tournament all week. As for my fellow zone officials. If you ever get a chance to attend please do. This is a fantastic opportunity to show the rest of the province what we have down here.
Thanks and have a good rest of the season.
Matt Barker
