November 22, 2018
The organizing committee for the 41st annual John Reid Memorial Tournament have announced the selections for this year’s competition.
The tournament has long been recognized as attracting the top bantam AAA talent in Western North America, and is heavily scouted by WHL teams in advance of the spring Bantam Draft.
Five teams from British Columbia have been selected again this year, along with seven Alberta teams, one each from Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and two US teams.
Returning BC teams include Burnaby Winter Club Academy, Delta Hockey Academy Green, Yale Hockey Academy Lions (Abbotsford, B.C.), and St. George’s Saints (Vancouver, B.C.). Newcomer, West Van Academy (West Vancouver), bumps OHA Penticton out this year.
All five BC teams are in a tight race at the top of the Canadian Sports School Hockey League again this season, along with the lone Alberta Academy team competing in the tournament this year.
Standings at November 23, 2018:
| TEAM | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | GF | GA | DIFF | PCT | STRK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burnaby | 15 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 22 | 90 | 38 | +52 | 0.733 | W4 |
| West Van | 13 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 91 | 38 | +53 | 0.808 | L1 |
| St. George’s | 13 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 20 | 69 | 43 | +26 | 0.769 | W2 |
| Yale | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 72 | 21 | +51 | 0.818 | W9 |
| Delta Green | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 75 | 46 | +29 | 0.818 | W5 |
| OHA Edmonton | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 45 | 28 | +17 | 0.556 | W1 |
The tournament runs from January 17th to 20st at Servus Credit Union Place in St. Albert, Alberta.
The other teams selected include:
United States -Los Angeles Jr. Kings, Phoenix Jr. Coyotes
Saskatchewan – Notre Dame Hounds (Wilcox)
Manitoba – Rink Hockey Academy Nationals (Winnipeg)
Southern Alberta – Calgary Bisons, Red Deer Rebels, Calgary Flames
Northern Alberta – OHA Academy (Edmonton), Fort Saskatchewan Rangers, Lloydminster Bobcats, St. Albert Sabres (host)
Here’s our wrap up of last year’s tournament, published January 23, 2018:
The Delta Wild Green were BC’s top team at the 40th annual John Reid Memorial Bantam AAA Tournament, finishing fourth after dropping a 3-2 decision in the Bronze medal vs Winnipeg’s Rink Academy. The two teams are currently tied at the top of the Canadian Sports School Hockey League, with 33 points, but Rink has done it in two fewer games.
Four other BC teams also competed, Yale, BWC, OHA Penticton and St. Georges. All four are CSSHL teams, as were eventual winners Northern Alberta Xtreme.
Gold Medal Game
The Gold medal game was won by the Northern Alberta Xtreme, based out of Spruce Grove, downing the Los Angeles Jr. Kings 5-3. NAX is currently in fourth place in the CSSHL, with 28 points, tied with OHA Penticton and BWC.
Xtreme scored the 3-3 goal with 10:49 to go in the third, and then added two more, at 3:49 and 32 seconds left for the win. The Kings outshot NAX 36-28.
NAX had downed OHA Penticton (#3 in league) 6-2 in the round robin, and Yale (#4), 4-3 in the quarterfinal.
Bronze Medal Game
In the Bronze medal game, Rink scored a power play goal in the first, and added one more in the second before Kai Daniels scored on Delta power play to make it 2-1. But Rink would add one more with 4:43 to finish the second period 3-1.
Delta’s Spencer Shugrue got one late in the third, but that would be it for the scoring, finishing 3-2 Rink. Shots finished 26-21 for Rink.
Rink had tied St. Georges 3-3 in the preliminary round, in their only other contest vs a BC team.
Northern Alberta Extreme had downed Rink Academy 6-3 in the semi.
Delta Round Robin and Quarters
Delta had advanced through the round robin with a perfect 3-0 record, and then defeated St. George’s 4-2 in the quarterfinal, before losing 4-2 to Los Angeles Jr. Kings in the semi-final. LA lead 1-0, 2-1 and were up 4-1 before Delta scored midway through the third to finish the scoring.
The annual tournament showcases the top 16 Bantam AAA teams in Western Canada and the USA, divided into four pools. The teams play a three game round robin in their pool to start, with the top two in each pool moving on to quarter final play.
Five BC teams were invited. Yale Academy and BWC Academy faced each other in one pool. Each of the other pools featured one BC team, Delta Wild Green, Yale Academy, and OHA Penticton.
Other BC Team Records
St. George’s Academy (Vancouver) came out of the round robin in a tie at the top, with Rink Academy. The teams had battled each other to a 2-2 in the round robin, and had both defeated St. Albert (7-3 Rink and 6-1 St.G) and Phoenix Jr. Coyotes (8-6 Rink and 5-2 St.G) to advance to the quarter finals.
In the quarter final vs Delta, St. George’s fell behind 2-0 after the second, on goals from Cage Newans and Matt Smith, and then went down 3-0 early in the third on a second goal from Smith.
Connor Levis got St. George’s on the board at 11:17 on a power play goal, and with 5:26 left Austin Fraser scored to close the gap to 3-2.
Delta’s Hoden Cardinal scored an empty netter with 55 seconds left to send Delta on to the semis. St. Georges outshot Delta, 30-18. Cole Savage got the win.
Yale Academy and Los Angeles Jr. Kings emerged at the top of the Iginla Pool, after 1-1 tie in their second game set up a do-or-die game for BWC, in their final round robin game vs Yale.
BWC had dropped their opener 2-0 to LA to set up a must win situation vs Yale, for BWC to advance. Yale and BWC had both downed the Calgary Royals previously, 8-1 (Yale) and 7-1 (BWC).
The Yale-BWC round robin game opened with a scoreless first. Yale’s Logan Stankoven then scored early in the second on a power play to open the scoring. The goal held til 3:46 when Caeden Banker evened it up on a BWC power play. BWC’s Chase Sandu quickly added another, less than a minute later, to close out the period 3-2 BWC.
Yale’s Kobe Verbicky scored at 13:55 of the third to put Yale back in the drivers seat, 2-2.
BWC pulled their goalie Thomas Milic in a desperate attempt to break the tie, but an empty netter from Verbicky finished things off, 4-3 Yale.
Milic faced 40 shots, while Yale’s Brayen Melnyk faced 34.
Yale advanced to quarters and matched up against Northern Alberta Extreme. The teams are #4 and #5 respectively in CSSHL league play, but had not faced each other in league play.
In the game vs NAX Saturday morning, NAX opened a 2-0 lead with a power play goal in the first and then an even strength goal early in the second.
Yale battled back with two to finish the second with the teams tied at 2-2. Stankoven got the first one, an unassisted power play marker at 10:54, and Brayden Schuurman evened it up at 9:37.
In the third, Yale’s Ashton Taylor scored at 13:18 to open up a 3-2 lead.
NAX’s Jack Parker forced OT, scoring with 13 seconds left.
OT solved nothing, and Yale eventually fell in the shootout.
Lochlan Gordon faced 33 shots for NAX, Liam Vanderkooi faced 29 for Yale.
In the other quarter-final, Los Angeles defeated the Airdrie Extreme 3-2, in another shootout.
Yale wrapped up with a 5-1 win over Airdrie Extreme.
BWC finished with a 2-1 win over OHA Pentiction and fell 3-2 to Lethbridge Golden Eagles in their final consolation game.
OHA Penticton were the fifth BC-based team in the tournament, and had the misfortune of being matched up with two of the top Alberta teams in the round robin. After downing the Sherwood Park Flyers 5-1, they lost 6-2 to NAX and 2-1 to Airdrie Xtreme.
OHA Penticton finished with the 2-1 loss to BWC and a 5-2 loss St. Albert Sabres.
Yale with finish with a game vs Airdrie on Sunday.
BWC will meet Lethbridge in their final game Sunday.
St. Georges will play OHA Edmonton in their final game.
Final Standings:
| Team | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | PIM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reid Pool – SKYBOX GRILL DIVISION | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RINK HOCKEY ACADEMY | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 30 | 22 | 60 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ST. GEORGE’S SCHOOL | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 18 | 13 | 38 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ST. ALBERT SABRES | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 21 | 77 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PHOENIX JR. COYOTES | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 21 | 28 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reid Pool – ALTA-WEST BUS CHARTERS DIVISION | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CALGARY BISONS | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 15 | 58 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LETHBRIDGE GOLDEN HAWKS | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 14 | 16 | 56 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| OHA EDMONTON | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 17 | 14 | 114 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DELTA WILD PREP GREEN | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 18 | 15 | 74 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Iginla Pool – C2 HOMES DIVISION | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LOS ANGELES JR. KINGS | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 20 | 11 | 60 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| YALE ACADEMY | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 20 | 9 | 100 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BWC ACADEMY | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 10 | 50 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CALGARY ROYALS | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 29 | 66 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Iginla Pool – REMAX-BRIAN CYR DIVISION | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NORTHERN ALBERTA XTREME | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 29 | 14 | 82 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AIRDRIE XTREME | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 17 | 15 | 106 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| OHA PENTICTON | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 16 | 50 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SHERWOOD PARK FLYERS | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 26 | 66 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Scoring Leaders:
| Rank | # | Name | Tea | GP | G | A | PTS | PTS/G | GPG | APG | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Savoie, Matt | Northern Alberta Xtreme | 6 | 5 | 13 | 18 | 3.00 | 0.83 | 2.17 | ||||
| 2 | 11 | Guenther, Dylan | Northern Alberta Xtreme | 6 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 2.50 | 1.33 | 1.17 | ||||
| 3 | 8 | Wong, Trevor | St. George’s School | 5 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 2.20 | 0.80 | 1.40 | ||||
| 4 | 7 | Lambos, Carson | Rink Hockey Academy | 6 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 1.67 | 0.50 | 1.17 | ||||
| 5 | 6 | Greenway, Tyson | St. Albert Sabres | 5 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 2.00 | 0.60 | 1.40 | ||||
| 6 | 10 | Stankoven, Logan | Yale Academy | 5 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 1.80 | 1.00 | 0.80 | ||||
| 7 | 16 | Litke, Aidan | Rink Hockey Academy | 6 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 1.33 | 1.00 | 0.33 | ||||
| 8 | 12 | Verbicky, Kobe | Yale Academy | 5 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 1.60 | 1.20 | 0.40 | ||||
| 9 | 10 | Armstrong, Craig | Airdrie Xtreme | 5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 1.60 | 1.00 | 0.60 | ||||
| 10 | 88 | Alvarez, Noah | Los Angeles Jr. Kings | 6 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 1.33 | 0.67 | 0.67 | ||||
| 11 | 19 | Tschigerl, Sean | OHA Edmonton | 5 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 1.60 | 0.80 | 0.80 | ||||
| 12 | 3 | Minnehan, Paul | Los Angeles Jr. Kings | 6 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 1.33 | 0.50 | 0.83 | ||||
| 13 | 91 | Serdachny, Noah | Rink Hockey Academy | 6 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 1.33 | 0.50 | 0.83 | ||||
| 14 | 13 | Bruce, Skyler | Rink Hockey Academy | 6 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 1.33 | 0.50 | 0.83 | ||||
| 15 | 19 | Hyland, Brett | Northern Alberta Xtreme | 6 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 1.33 | 0.50 | 0.83 | ||||
| 16 | 27 | Murray, Parker | Los Angeles Jr. Kings | 6 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 1.17 | 0.83 | 0.33 | ||||
| 17 | 10 | Sundar, Ethan | St. Albert Sabres | 5 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 1.40 | 0.60 | 0.80 | ||||
| 18 | 26 | Levis, Connor | St. George’s School | 5 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 1.40 | 0.40 | 1.00 | ||||
| 19 | 5 | Gabrielson, Oliver | St. George’s School | 5 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 1.40 | 0.40 | 1.00 |
