Chaos head to Brooks to compete in MacDonald Cup

By Cole Parkinson
Taber Times

After a disappointing end to their Provincial tournament, the Southern Alberta Chaos were right back at it this weekend as they hit the road to Brooks for the Jr. B MacDonald Cup Invitational.

The tournament began on Wednesday afternoon as the Chaos lined up against the Provincial banner winners, the Lakeland Heat. The Chaos would open the first with three straight goals as Ty Hynes had a single while Austin Sheen had a pair. Ty Hanson, Deegan Reutlinger, and Connor Materi all had a single assist. Lakeland would answer with two of their own, but the Chaos took a 3-2 lead into the middle frame.

Lakeland would jump out to a 4-3 lead thanks to a pair of couple quick strikes, but the Chaos battled back with three of their own to make it a tie game heading into the third. Sheen had another goal while Reutlinger had the other two Chaos goals. Hynes and Michael Dyck each had two assists in the period while Hanson had one.

It was a great defensive effort from both teams in the third period as neither team was able to break through until late in the period. Reutlinger would notch the hat trick with Hanson and Hynes drawing the assets. The Chaos would hold on and take it 7-6. Ryker Gamble was in the net for the Chaos and made 50 saves on 56 shots.

After a great opening win, the Chaos took to the court later that day to take on the Swift Current Wolverines. The Wolverines would open the scoring but Materi would answer back a few minutes later as Ryal Maxwell-Lyster collected the assist. The rest of the period was all Swift Current as they added a pair to take a 3-1 lead into the second.

Sheen would cut the lead to one early in the second as Reutlinger and Hael Maxwell-Lyster drew the assists. Swift Current would score two more before the end of the period though and take a 5-2 lead into the final frame. Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the third and the game ended 5-2 in favour of Swift Current. Jaxon Buscholl made 23 saves on 28 shots for the Chaos over two periods while Gamble got a period and was perfect with 19 saves.

For their third game, the Chaos matched up against another familiar foe — the Calgary Wranglers. In the first period, Sheen got things going for the Chaos as the forward found the back of the net early. Hynes and Reutlinger continued their strong play as they drew the assists. With the clock running down, Dyck potted a goal to give the Chaos a 2-0 lead heading into the second. Sheen would be the lone player drawing the assist.

In the second, it was all Chaos as Dyck had a pair of goals, Sheen had a goal and an assist, Ryder Douglas found the back of the net, and Gamble had an assist. With the Chaos up 6-0 heading into the third, the Wranglers finally broke the goose egg early in the period. But that would be as close as they got as the Chaos continued to pour it on with another four goals. Reutlinger collected a natural hat trick, Dyck had another goal and an assist, and Sheen, Brock Higa, and Jett Matisho all collected one assist in the period. Gamble played 59:02 in the Chaos net and made 32 saves on 33 shots while Buscholl got in for 58 seconds and made a save on a single shot.

On Friday afternoon, the Chaos lined up against the Prince Alberta Predators in the final round-robin game. The first period saw quite a few goals scored, but it was the Predators pulled out to a 5-2 lead. Matisho and Sheen had the goals while Dyck and Hynes had the assists. The scoring continued into the second as ten total goals were scored, but once again the Predators outscored the Chaos and they took an 11-6 lead into the final frame. Reutlinger had a pair of goals and two assists, Dyck had a goal and an assist, Hynes had two assists, and Matisho added another assist.

The third period saw the Predators put up another five goals while the Chaos were unable to mount a comeback as they fell 16-10. Reutlinger had another two goals and an assist, Sheen added two more goals, and Dyck and Hynes had two more assists. Gamble made 55 saves on 71 shots in the Chaos net.

With a loss in their final game, the Chaos returned to the court on Saturday morning for the semi-final in which they once again squared off against the Prince Alberta Raiders. Unfortunately for the Chaos, the Predators scored early and often en route to a 16-4 victory. Reutlinger led the way with a goal and three assists, while Hynes had another two helpers, and Materi, Sheen, and Dyck had the other goals. Gamble made 39 saves on 52 shots while Buscholl had four saves on seven shots.

With the loss in the semi-final, the Chaos lined up for their final game of the year on Sunday morning to compete for the bronze medal against the Swift Current Wolverines. The first period saw each team trade a goal as Ty Hanson scored for the Chaos.

The second saw the Chaos come out firing as they put four goals past the Wolverines’ goaltender as they took a 5-3 lead into the final frame. Sheen had three of the Chaos goals while Materi had the other. In the third period, the Chaos came out and put another five on the board as they secured the bronze medal with a 10-5 victory. Materi had two of the Taber goals while Sheen and Hynes had a goal and an assist, Reutlinger collected two assists, Gamble had a goal and Matisho had one assist.

In the gold medal game, the Prince Alberta Raiders defeated the Lakeland Heat 12-3.