By Sheldon Spackman

Sutter Fund Chiefs ready for Midget AAA Provincials

Mar 20, 2019 | 1:00 PM

The Red Deer Sutter Fund Chiefs are hoping to capitalize on their current momentum heading into Provincials this month.

The female Midget AAA hockey club is coming off a 2-0 series win over the Edmonton Pandas to qualify for the four-team tournament in St. Albert from March 22-24.

It’s the third year-in-a-row the team has made it this far.

Head Coach Bob Rutz says it’s a good feeling, as it was their goal from the beginning of the season to reach this point.

“We were hoping we would maybe finish a little bit higher but I mean it’s a tough league, there’s tough teams and there’s no easy games,” says Rutz. “I don’t think our record (9-18-0-3) indicates the level that we can play at. We’ve struggled with consistency all year in terms of playing a full 60 minutes but at the end of the day, it was just a matter of winning that first playoff round.”

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At this juncture, Rutz says the regular season doesn’t mean a whole lot now.

“It’s about getting there and seeing what you can do,” exclaims Rutz. “We play two tough teams right off-the-bat, probably two of the top five teams in Canada in Lloydminster and St. Albert. We’ve got the goaltending, I’m not concerned about that but we’re going to have to play well in the D-Zone, limit time and space and get on their good players quickly.”

Rutz says they will have to win at least one of their games on Friday to have a shot at the gold.

“We just have to out-work, out-compete, out-battle,” adds Rutz. “I know our goaltending is going to be there and we’ve got to limit their chances. If you do that, you always have a chance against anybody in our league.”

Rutz says the team’s bounce-back from their last three regular season games where they didn’t play very well, is likely what he’s most proud of.

“We didn’t compete very hard and we ended-up losing three-in-a-row,” laments Rutz. “We just found a way in that first playoff game after we got down to just stay together and we didn’t give up. We just followed the game plan, be hard to play against, move pucks quick, get pucks to the net and we’ll see what happens.”

Rutz says going into Provincials as an underdog, is a role he’s relishing this year.   

“Last year we were one of the top teams in the league but playing this underdog role, there’s no pressure, we just go out and play,” explains Rutz. “I like the fact that we’re going in as the fourth-seed, the underdog seed, nobody’s really giving us a chance. People could look at our record and say ‘Oh, what a disastrous season’ but I honestly believe that if we just come together and play the game the right way, we can definitely make some noise up there.”

The female Midget AAA Provincials feature the regular season champion and host association St. Albert Slash, Lloydminster Steelers, Calgary Fire and Red Deer Sutter Fund Chiefs.