Some former Okotoks residents won’t be ringing in the New Year with the same fanfare they did back in the late 1990s when hockey fans watched them celebrate on Saddledome ice the Mac’s championship trophy.

Foothills Bison Chris Beston checks an Edmonton SSAC forward during the 1998 Mac’s tournament at Max Bell Arena in Calgary. The Bisons went on to win the prestigious tournament.

Okotoks players were prominent with the Foothills Midget AAA Bisons when they downed the Swift Current Legionaires 4-2 on Jan. 1, 1999 to win the Mac’s Major Midget Hockey tournament in Calgary.

“I was fortunate to score the first two goals in that game,” said Chad Krushelnicki, a forward with the 1998 Bisons. “We never trailed in the game. To win was an unbelievable feeling. It was pretty awesome to carry that trophy around. It was a lot heavier than you think.”

The championship Bisons included former Okotokians Dave Reidford, Krushelnicki, goalie Sean Connors, Geoff Rollins, BJ McKay, Josh Webb and current Okotoks Junior A Oilers assistant coach Chris Beston. Mark Harvey was called up by the Bisons for the tournament.

The Bisons beat the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers in the quarterfinals and then the Calgary Royals 6-2 in the semi-final, a game in which Krushelnicki got four goals. Both the quarter-final and semi-final were played on Dec. 31,and Bisons coach Rick Puttick made sure his team had a good night’s sleep on New Year’s Eve in preparation for the final on Jan. 1.

Krushelnicki had been a member of the team when they had lost 1-0 to the Saskatoon Contacts in the Mac’s final the previous year.

“That loss helped us when we got back into the final in 1999,” the 28-year-old Krushelnicki said. “The year before, we had played two games the day before the final and then we all went home. The next year, the coaches had us all stay at the hotel so that we were all together and got a good night sleep. We were much better prepared.”

In 1997 the Bisons knocked off the Calgary Buffaloes, with Dany Heatley, in overtime in the playoffs.

Krushelnicki went on to play Junior A hockey with the Crowsnest Pass Timberwolves and the Calgary Canucks. He finished off his Junior career with the Foothills Junior B Bisons. He is presently working for a basement-waterproofing company and plans to go back into school in the fall.

Wide-eyed rookie

David Reidford won’t ever forget the surreal feeling of sitting in Team Canada’s dressing room on New Year’s Day at the Saddledome just before hitting the ice at the Mac’s Midget final.

“You sit in your spot in the dressing room and they brought in the TV cameras and zoom around just like they do for Hockey Night in Canada or something,” he said with a chuckle. “They got me doing up my skates and things. It was a kind of a distraction — it was surreal. But we were such a good team that it didn’t bother us too much.”

He credits Connors for playing a major part in winning the Mac’s in 1998.

“We had two good goalies in that tournament, but Sean was number one,” Reidford said. “In that tournament, Sean was unbelievable.”

Although Midget players have youth on their side, the Mac’s is a grind. It’s hockey almost every day from Boxing Day to New Year’s Day if you are fortunate enough to make it to the finals.

“The worst day is Dec. 31, when you have the quarter-final and the semi-finals with just a few hours break in between,” Reidford said. “In the quarterfinals we beat Fort Saskatchewan in either double or triple overtime and then we had to play the Calgary Royals in the semi-finals. It seemed like we just had some lasagna and then we had to go back on the ice for the semi-finals.”

There’s nothing like a championship to bring friends together.

“I will remember those guys for the rest of my life,” the 28-year-old Reidford said. “A lot of those guys went on to bigger and better things, but I am sure they look back at the Mac’s as one of the highlights of their careers.”

Reidford had one more highlight just a day after winning the tournament when he went to Foothills Composite High School.

“After we won it felt pretty cool to wear your UFA AAA Bisons jacket,” Reidford said with a laugh. “Once we won the Mac’s everyone knew who we were. Wearing it to school the next day was cool… I remember Chris Beston and I were driving to school the next day and I got pulled over for a speeding ticket. The cop let us off because we had won the Mac’s the day before.”

Reidford went on to play Junior A hockey with Crowsnest Pass and later with the Junior B Bisons. He is now a geologist.

A fan’s wish

Chris Beston was always a fan of the Mac’s tourney and he was able to fulfill a New Year’s wish he made when he watched the Bisons lose the final on Jan. 1, 1998.

“I grew up watching the Mac’s every year and to get a chance to play in it was exciting,” Beston said. “I had gone and watched the final the year before at the Saddledome and I remember wishing that I would be in the same position as the players when I played for the Bisons (the following year).”

Beston played on a line with Krushelnicki and Steve Ebbesen in the Bisons’ championship year. It was Beston’s first year of Midget hockey. By the time the Bisons had reached the finals, Beston had lost his Mac’s rookie nervousness.

“I had first-game jitters for sure. Every time you step on the ice there are 400 or 500 fans and scouts watching,” Beston said. “By the finals, I was actually fairly relaxed. We had played two games the day before and I was almost too tired to realize what it is all about… We knew that we had to have our A game to win it.”

Beston’s line turned in an A performance in the victory over Swift Current.

Krushelnicki got a pair of goals, Beston added another and Ebbesen was named the game’s MVP.

“I was 16 and to win it was surreal,” Beston said. “I grew up watching it and there have been a lot of great players play in the Mac’s. A lot of players don’t even get to play in it and we got to win it.”

Beston is going back to the Mac’s this year. Although he is now a coach with the Junior A Oilers, he’s returning to the Mac’s as a fan, not a scout.

“I’m going just as a fan,” Beston said. “We have scouts who do the scouting. But my wife and I will go — we go each year.”

As for some of the other Okotokians in the 1998 championship Mac’s team, Sean Connors, who played in the Western Hockey League with Calgary, Moose Jaw and Medicine Hat, finished his professional career in 2007/2008 in Oklahoma City while Rollins is now playing for the SAIT Trojans after playing for several professional minor hockey teams.

Rick Puttick is presently an assistant coach with the Okotoks Bantam AAA Oilers.

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