As the world draws in on Helsinki, Finland and the World Junior Hockey Championships, another group of hockey players are battling it out in Calgary.

The 38th Mac's Midget AAA hockey tournament got underway on its annual Boxing Day start Saturday.

Six days of elite hockey action features teams from across the globe, including national teams from Belarus and Austria.

Closer to home, the Prince Albert Mintos, Tisdale Trojans and Moose Jaw Generals lead the five pack of teams from Saskatchewan.

Amongst those three teams are a total of nine Humboldt area players.

Leading the Mintos is second-year forward Erik Gardiner. The Humboldt product is tied for the team lead in points with 36 in 26 games played. Gardiner was the 35th overall pick of the Regina Pats in the 2014 WHL Bantam Draft, and was a final cut in training camp this year.

Drake's Maguire Blair is having a fine first season in Prince Albert. He has tallied 10 points in 19 games.

Layne Matechuk of Colonsay and St. Brieux's Ethan Rheaume are a pair of the team's blueliners.

Matechuk - the 40th overall pick of the Medicine Hat Tigers in this year's WHL Draft has seven points in 23 games in his first season with the Mintos.

Joining Prince Albert for the tournament is 14-year-old Logan Barlage. The leading scorer in the Saskatchewan Bantam AA Hockey League has played two games for the Mintos previously, including his first game last season where he scored his first goal.

Wadena's Carson Scheschuk and Humboldt's Blake Berschiminsky are in their first season with the Tisdale Trojans.

Both played a handful of games for Tisdale last season, including making appearances at the Mac's Tournament.

Scheschuk has played every game on the blueline for the Trojans, tallying three points. Berschiminsky has yet to hit the scoresheet in 12 games.

Up for the tournament is Thomas Bollefer, who plays for the Midget AA Broncos. The defenseman has played three games with Tisdale this season, recording one assist.

Connor Hayward of Naicam made the jump from Bantam right to the SMAAAHL this year with the Moose Jaw Generals. He spent the previous two seasons playing for the Northeast Wolfpack.

Hayward has been a mainstay for the Generals defensively, playing in 25 games while recording three points. The Generals hit the Christmas break one point out of first place in the league.

Each team plays four round robin games with semi-final games on New Year's Eve, and the tournament final on New Year's Day.