Mace’o Phillips made sure people noticed him at WinSport on Friday morning.
The 6-foot-6 defenceman turned heads in the Snowy Cup with a spin-o-rama shootout goal in the first half, then came back with another slick finish in period two, lifting a one-handed backhand chip shot that drew a fresh round of gasps. For Flames general manager Craig Conroy, the message was clear.
“I was sitting there, my mouth was wide open,” Conroy said Friday following the 3-on-3 scrimmage. “I’m like ‘OK! Now we expect more!’
“He put himself on the map in the shootout. We’ll be seeing some of that in Medicine Hat this year.”
That’s where Phillips is headed this winter, and Tigers GM and head coach Willie Desjardins was in the building Friday to get a look at his new defenceman. Phillips, who spent 2025-26 with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers, said the move is exactly what he wanted.
“That is the plan. I will be there next year,” said Phillips.
“For me, it'll be a new league, new players, new coaching obviously, with Coach Willie there. I'm absolutely thrilled for it.
“Obviously, they have the Ruck boys (Liam and Markus, drafted this June by the Pittsburgh Penguins) coming back and then I know a couple other guys who played there, they all just absolutely love it. And I think with Willie, his NHL experience that he has and the way that they’ve developed their defencemen, I think that was huge for me.”
Phillips brings more than size and skill to the Tigers. The Wayzata, Minn. product also plays with an edge, and that fits a Medicine Hat group that has already won six playoff series and a WHL title over the past two seasons. Last year, Phillips piled up 187 penalty minutes, third-most in the USHL.
He’s also the kind of player who gets fired up when the temperature rises around him. A viral clip from last winter showed that clearly, when his Slovak goaltender Leo Henriquez got into a centre-ice scrap and Phillips reacted by jumping into the frame once Henriquez scored the takedown.
“That’s something you don't see every night,” Phillips said with a laugh. “I was absolutely 110% juiced for that. That was unbelievable.
“Leo was phenomenal for us all year and yeah, I mean, he just got drafted to Boston (in the sixth round), so I sent him a text and I'm so happy for him. He did a lot for us, especially dropping the gloves.”
Phillips also got a close look at two other Flames draftees while in the USHL. Jack Hextall and Tobias Trejbal were teammates with him on Team McDonald at the Snowy Cup last week, though both had also been opponents during the season as members of the Youngstown Phantoms.
“Hextall, he has really good vision, good playmaking,” Phillips said. “So yeah, don't puck watch on him.
“Trejbal, I think he played a couple times when he played them. He's obviously very good and I think he stood on his head the first time we played him.”
At 19, Phillips is expected to take on an important role on the Medicine Hat blue line. He wore an ‘A’ with the Gamblers last season and will arrive as one of the older defenders on the Tigers roster.
The fit looks obvious for a player built for the Central Division’s physical style. And with Calgary only a three-hour drive away, Phillips knows he’ll get a few chances to play in front of Flames management again, including some guest appearances during the Scotiabank Saddledome’s farewell season.
“We play the Hitmen, I think, eight times,” Phillips said. “That'll be really fun kind of playing in the ‘Dome as a visitor.
“Hopefully it'll be pretty rowdy in there.”
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The strength of the system is especially noticeable on defense, where the Flames have built real depth on the right side and may eventually have more players than spots if things break right. The forward group is less certain, though, and that is where the evaluation gets interesting for Calgary: there is plenty of support talent and some promising upside, but the question of whether the Flames have truly found a star-level forward remains open. [Read more 🡒]
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Jonathan Castagnas move to Calgary came together quickly after he finished his junior season at Cornell, and the Flames clearly saw enough in the center to move fast. He signed a three-year entry-level contract and arrives with the kind of profile teams like to bet on this time of year: a player whose game drew notice not just for what he did on the ice, but for the way he carried himself through camp and the draft process.
Calgarys interest was built on more than numbers, with the organization pointing to his work ethic, leadership and overall approach as reasons he fit their plans. Castagna, for his part, has spoken with real appreciation about his time at Cornell and a humble mindset as he starts the pro climb, which is part of what makes him such an intriguing addition for a team that has been looking to add dependable pieces with some upside. [Read more 🡒]