Generals goalie Ryland Pashovitz will be leaned on during the tournament.

It's an annual tradition for the top Midget AAA teams in North America and from across the globe to pack up after Christmas and head to Calgary, Alberta.  The Moose Jaw Generals will be one of those teams making the annual journey for the 35th edition of the Mac's Tournament.

The Generals are one of six Saskatchewan teams that will be making the trip West for the 25-team tournament, which kicks off on Boxing Day.  The Battlefords Stars, Tisdale Trojans, Prince Albert Mintos, Saskatoon Blazers and Contacts are all heading to Calgary as well.

“Hopefully we can go to the Mac's, play some good hockey and come back carry that over to the next half,” stated head coach Ray Wareham before the team departed for the Christmas break.

The Generals are pooled in with some very talented teams for the tournament.  They open up against the Alberta Midget Hockey League's Chrysler Division leading Red Deer Chiefs, who beat the Generals' 2-1 in shootout at the North Dakota Tournament; after that on Friday, they play the Lloydminster Bobcats, who are third in the Dodge Division; then the Generals get to battle the Pirati Chomutov from the Czech Republic on Saturday; and then finish up the round robin on Sunday against the Calgary Royals, who are second in the Chrysler Division.

“We're in a pretty tough pool out there, we've got our work cut out for us, it's always tough,” said Wareham.  “It's a chance to see where we stack up and we've just got to go there and play.  The kids are excited, we're happy to be there and we'll see what happens.”

The team is really looking forward to the tournament. “It's a great tournament, we'll have some good competition, we play some good teams there and we're going to try our best to get some wins,” said Generals' forward Ben Duperreault, one of five Moose Jaw Warriors prospects that will playing in the tournament.

The Generals will be coming in hot to the Mac's after winning their final four league games before the break and climbing back into the top-4 in the Sask Midget AAA Hockey League. There's one big change for the Generals though. Their winning streak was spurred by the return of captain Rhett Gardner from injury and the team's leading scorer won't be with the team for the tournament as he heads to Quebec for the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

“We've just got to play simple out there,” said assistant captain Tanner Davies. “It's going to be tough, but I think we can do it.  We're a young team and we can get through that.”

“Without Rhett it is going to be interesting to see how we respond.  When we lost him in the Grand Forks Tournament, it didn't go so good for us,” added Wareham.  “I think guys now will have an opportunity, with maybe not so much pressure on them, to just find their way a little bit and not feel like they have to do this and that.”

The Generals will also be without defenceman Drew Fellner, who was injured just prior to the break, and goalie Grant Naherniak, who has been called up to the Red Deer Rebels of the WHL for after Christmas.

“We're going to take Brayden Delorme, Riley Cannon, Regan Seiferling and Brett Banda with us, so give those kids to showcase themselves too,” explained Wareham. “We want to go there, play some hockey and continue to build on what we've done over the last four games here and keep getting better.”

The Generals will open up the Mac's Tournament on Boxing Day morning against the Red Deer Chiefs at 11:00am.