The division lineups have been finalized for the John Reid Memorial Tournament, Jan. 14 to 17 at Servus Credit Union Place.
The 16-team, 42-game schedule for the 38th annual St. Albert bantam AAA invitational tournament consists of four divisions split into two conferences to determine the pairings in the A, B and C playoff brackets.
The Reid conference features the host St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres, Notre Dame Hounds, Los Angeles Jr. Kings and North Shore Winter Club Hawks in the Kal-Tire division and the Skybox Grill division is comprised of the Rocky Mountain Raiders, Dallas Stars Elite, Sherwood Park Flyers and the 2015 champion Delta Hockey Academy Wild.
The Iginla conference includes the Pursuit of Excellence Academy, Burnaby Winter Club Bruins, SSAC Southgate Lions and Colorado Thunderbirds in the C2 Homes division and the Lethbridge Golden Hawks, Yale Hockey Academy, Calgary Bisons and Winnipeg Monarchs in the SVS Group division.
The Sabres play Jan. 14 against Notre Dame at 10:45 a.m. and the Los Angeles Jr. Kings in the feature game at 8 p.m. and Jan. 15 against North Shore at 2:30 p.m. at Go Auto Arena.
The Jan. 14 opening ceremonies start at 7:15 p.m. at Go Auto Arena and the winner of the eighth annual $1,000 John Reid Memorial Scholarship will be announced.
The Jan. 17 championship game is 2 p.m. at Go Auto Arena.
The only St. Albert team to win the tournament was the 1983 Territorial Leasing Sabres.
Visit www.johnreidmemorial.com for the tournament schedule.
The St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres are in Grande Prairie this week for two games against the Grande Peace Storm in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League.
The Sabres (13-3-4) are second in the nitro north division and fourth overall in the 21-team AMBHL and the Storm (6-12-2) are fourth in the charger north division.
The Sabres are coming off a 7-3 loss to the Sherwood Park Flyers (16-0-1), the top nitro team for second overall in the AMBHL, and 5-5 draw with the SSAC Southgate Lions (13-4-1).
The Sabres were missing four regulars against the Flyers and three against SSAC.
The first loss for the Sabres after going 7-0-1 in November was Monday in Sherwood Park. The Flyers outscored the visitors 4-1 in the first period and led 7-2 after two periods. The Sabres were outshot 19-8 in the first and 45-24 overall.
Kye Buchanan, Stuart Dovey and affiliate Matt Offenberger scored and Ryley Osland (seven GA on 34 shots in 39 MP) and Evan Fradette (11 saves in 21 MP) shared netminding duties.
SSAC potted the game-tying marker with 36 seconds remaining after Dovey’s second of the game and team-leading 14th goal put the Sabres on top with 2:32 to play Tuesday at Akinsdale Arena.
SSAC led 1-0 after the first and 3-2 entering the third.
Ryley Morgan and Dovey connected in the middle frame and Brady Nicholas and Austin Spiridakis struck on the power play in the third.
Shots were 34-29 for SSAC and Fradette (8-0-3, 1.87 GAA) was in net.
Meanwhile, the Sabres host the 26th annual AMBHL all-star game Jan. 9 at 2:15 p.m. at Go Auto Arena. The north and south all-star teams will be finalized by Dec. 31.
The St. Albert Flyers close out a six-game homestand Sunday against the Rockyview Raiders in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League.
Puck drop is 10:45 a.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The Flyers (9-5-2) are tied for fourth place in the north division and the Okotoks-based Raiders (8-3-4) share fourth place in the south standings.
The Flyers are 3-2 during their homestand and 6-4 overall in St. Albert after Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to the Sherwood Park Squires (12-1-1).
Next weekend the Flyers head south for games against the SEAC Tigers (2-13-1) of Medicine Hat and Lethbridge Hurricanes (3-13-2).
Natasha Borrett posted her second shutout of the season for the St. Albert Lady Raiders with a game-high 31 saves Wednesday in the Alberta Major Bantam Female Hockey League.
Isabelle Lajoie, Aidan Soltis, Makenna Schuttler and Libby Langenhahn scored in support of Borrett (2-4, 1.45 GAA) in the 4-0 win over the Edmonton Lightning at Go Auto Arena.
Langenhahn and Payden Bialowas had two assists apiece as the Raiders (5-3-4) moved into a third-place tie with the Peace Country Storm (6-6-2) in the north division. The Lightning (8-2-2) are third in the north.
It was the first win for the Raiders after two losses and one tie since beating the Calgary Rangers (9-3-2) 3-2 on the road Nov. 7.
Andrea Gauchier is the top Raider in points with 12 and Lajoie and Bialowas share the team lead in goals with six apiece.
Next weekend the Raiders are in Grande Prairie for two games against the Storm.
