Nick Tarnasky believes it takes a whole team to have success.
So far, so good.
The U17AAA Red Deer North Star Sports Chiefs put together a solid regular season, which has propelled them into the provincial championships, April 3-6 in Okotoks.
“Ultimately we wanted a hard-working team, that plays honest, stays within themselves and don’t try to rebuild, or reinvent the game,” he said. “I always felt the game was pretty simple and you stay within the parameters of the structure. As long as you’re putting in the effort and have a positive attitude, the wins will take care of themselves.”
The Chiefs posted a 24-7-0-0-3 record during the season and finished one point back of the Calgary Flames (25-7-0-1-1) for first in the Alberta Elite Hockey League U17AAA South Division and first overall.
The Chiefs were consistent from the outset, completing an undefeated record at home and never losing two games in a row.
“It was kind of our group goal to finish the year not losing at home and not losing two in a row,” said Tarnasky. “We have that attitude where you grab your gear and support your teammates. If you’re on the bench, have a positive attitude. We have guys with a positive attitude all year and that’s all I ask.,”
That showed in the second round of the playoffs against Okotoks. The teams split the first two games, but Red Deer put the finishing touches on their season goal, winning 3-1 at home to take the best-of-three series.
“It was one of those games, everyone just put it on the line.”
The Chiefs didn’t need to win the series to advance to the provincials, that was determined when Calgary advanced.
“But that wasn’t how we wanted to get in,” said Tarnasky. “It was important for us to win and get in the right way and feel good about ourselves heading into the provincial tournament.”
The Chiefs have a well-balanced group with 10 second-year players out of the 20.
They also have well-balanced scoring with Lucas Normand of Red Deer County fifth in the league with 41 points on 24 goals and 17 assists in 34 games. Bennett Roth of Red Deer and Austin Mori-Goodman tied for 12th with 37 points.
But Tarnasky wasn’t worried about where anyone finishes in the scoring race.
“I rarely look at stats,” he stressed. “I try to dissect what’s going on with our group and stress consistency and attitude.
“Since Day 1 when I joined this group we have a positive attitude and believe in ourselves and started to understand what it takes to win,” added Tarnasky, who is in his first season behind the bench.
“We’ve had guys step up with big games, big weeks, big months but in general I was more reliant on the whole group playing the right way, and as I said I don’t pay much attention to numbers.”
Still Roth is one of the team leaders, along with Norman and Mori-Goodman.
“Roth had a big influence on and off the ice,” Tarnasky said. “He’s been more than a guy we relied on heavily. He and Goodman and Norman were instrumental for us down the stretch.”
Tarnasky added he feels doesn’t have any one defenceman who has to carry the load.
“All our defenceman have played well, everyone comes to battle.”
He did say McKye Duncan and Max Hammernback have played well as has Colton Cox. All three are from Red Deer.
The other rearguards are Cooper Towers of Lacombe, Alex Mathieson of Sylvan Lake, Nolan Dusome of Yellowknife and Finn Kelly of Rimbey, who has been injured of late.
Grady Gardiner of Sylvan Lake and Ryder Cuyrenne of Red Deer have shared the goaltending duties.
“We’ve rotated them all year,” he said. “They shared responsibility and gave us a good shot to win every night.”
The remainder of the forwards are Jacob Anstey of Lacombe, Talon Hynes of Blackfalds, Barrett Newfield, Hudson Burghardt, Easton Nafziger, Tayte Hoiland and Coen Marshall of Red Deer and Bo Kranzler of Stettler.
Tarnasky, who coached five years with the Rocky Mountain House Rams Junior B squad and last year with the Red Deer Rustlers Senior AA team, doesn’t feel any one team will be favoured at the provincials.
“When you make the provincial tournament, you’re ready to play,” he said. “There will be five teams ready ... everyone will be hungry. I expect good competition.”
The Chiefs are just one of a strong group of teams out of Red Deer to vie for the provincial title this year. They hope to follow in the footsteps on the U15AAA champion Red Deer Rebels and the U15AA girls champion Red Deer Topco Oilsite Products Chiefs, who won titles last weekend.
“It’s great for Red Deer,” Tarnasky said. “I think we were looking and there were 13 or 14 teams out of Red Deer who made the provincials. It’s awesome for the organization.
“We have kids with friends or family on those teams so all-in-all everyone is excited to see other groups have success in the same sport we’re playing.”
Two members of the provincial champion U15AAA Rebels - forward Jaxon Jaffray and defenceman Cruz Nicolay – have been added as affliated players for the provincials.
The RDP Kings also won their league title while this weekend the Red Deer Wesco Chiefs are competing in the U13AA boys championships in Rocky Mountain House and the Red Deer DataCon in the U13A girls finals in Stettler.
The West Central Tigers are also in U13 AA and the host Stettler Storm in the U13A girls.
The Central Alberta Twins are involved in the U13AA girls finals while the Olds Grizzlys are in the U18AA boys championships.
Tarnasky has a solid group with him in assistant coaches Shaun Duncan and Brad Hammerback and Brett Wold, who is the Hockey Academy coach.
Erin Hoiland is the team manager and Kit Newfield trainer.
Danny Rode is a retired Advocate reporter and member of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame who can be reached at danrode@shaw.ca
