The top 11-ranked bantam AAA hockey teams in western Canada will be on display at the John Reid Memorial Tournament, starting Jan. 14 at Servus Credit Union Place.
Overall, the 38th annual St. Albert bantam AAA tournament will feature 13 out of the top 16 teams as of Sunday and compiled by Tyler Neisz, owner/director of scouting for Western Elite Hockey Prospects.
They are as follows:
1. Delta Hockey Academy Wild (12-2-1)
2. Burnaby Winter Club Bruins (20-0)
3. Lethbridge Golden Hawks (21-3-1)
4. Sherwood Park Flyers (21-2-1)
5. Notre Dame Hounds (22-2-1)
6. Yale Hockey Academy (12-4)
7. Calgary Bisons (20-2-3)
8. St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres (19-4-4)
9. Pursuit of Excellence Academy (13-4-3)
10. North Shore Winter Club Winterhawks (18-3)
11. Winnipeg Monarchs (22-1)
15. SSAC Southgate Lions (15-7-2)
16. Rocky Mountain Raiders (16-7-3)
Also, the Colorado Thunderbirds are No. 2 in the Western United States rankings behind Shattuck St. Mary, the No. 1 team in the United States. Colorado has been in the United States Top-10 all year and ranked as high as fourth.
Dallas Stars Elite are No. 4 in the Western United States and have been in the national top-25 rankings all year.
The Los Angeles Jr. Kings are No. 5 in the Western United States and during the Christmas break participated in the inaugural Pat Quinn Bantam Classic, comprised of all the elite teams in British Columbia, as well as Lethbridge, the No. 1-ranked Alberta team, and the Chicago Mission, No. 3 in the United States. The Kings reached the semifinals before bowing out to Lethbridge.
Nelson Emerson, a former NHL forward (195 goals and 488 points in 771 games) and assistant coach who is the current director of player personnel of the Los Angeles Kings, has twin sons Blake and Quinn playing for the Jr. Kings. Emerson is the guest speaker at the Jan. 16 tournament awards banquet at the Ramada Conference Centre Ballroom.
At the Reid tournament in pool play, the host Sabres face-off Jan. 14 against Notre Dame at 10:45 a.m. and Los Angeles at 8 p.m. and Jan. 15 against North Shore at 2:30 p.m. at Go Auto Arena.
Visit www.johnreidmemorial.com for the tournament schedule.
The St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres are hosting the 26th annual Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League all-star game Saturday at Go Auto Arena.
Game time is 2:15 p.m. and admission is free.
The all-star game is sponsored by the Western Hockey League.
The coaching staffs of the Sherwood Park Flyers and Calgary Bisons are handling the north and south teams.
The teams practise Friday at the Kinex (north all-stars from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m.) and Akinsdale (south all-stars from 4:45 to 6 p.m.) arenas.
Representing the Sabres on the 23-man north lineup is defenceman Kyle Fulton, forwards’ Blake Sydlowski and Brady Nicholas and netminders’ Evan Fradette and Ryley Osland.
Going into Monday’s game against the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers, Fulton had nine assists in 27 games, Blake Sydlowski scored 17 goals and led the Sabres in points with 35 in 27 games and Nicholas had eight goals and a team-high 26 assists in 21 games.
The score against the Rangers was unavailable at press time.
The north and south teams are carrying three goalies apiece and they will each play one period. They were picked based on their goals-against averages and save percentages with a minimum 600 minutes played by Dec. 25.
Fradette is 10-1-3, with a 1.90 GAA, .924 save percentage and shares the AMBHL lead in shutouts with four. Osland is 9-3-1, with a 2.35 GAA and .904 save percentage.
Visit www.ambhl.ab.ca for the all-star rosters.
Meanwhile, the Sabres (18-4-4) were back on the ice Saturday against the Calgary Royals (7-15-3) and won 3-1 at Akinsdale Arena.
Austin Spiridakis (14th), Logan McKinley (ninth) and Stuart Dovey (team-leading 21st goal) scored, Fulton and Carson Henry had two assists apiece and Osland faced 20 shots.
The St. Albert Slash resume league play Saturday against the Lloydminster Steelers.
Puck drop is 6:15 p.m. at Go Auto Arena.
Three points separate the sixth-place Slash (6-10-5) and eighth-place Steelers (6-10-2) in the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League.
The Slash are coming off a 1-3 showing at the Mac’s midget tournament in Calgary over the Christmas break and their last pool game was the 3-0 win over the Steelers.
Hannah Clark recorded the shutout with 21 saves and Brooke Serdachny (power play), Danielle Cox (penalty shot) and Sophie Robertson scored against the 0-4 Steelers.
The Slash suffered losses of 1-0 to the Fraser Valley Rush, 5-3 to the Melville Prairie Fire and 6-0 to the Rocky Mountain Raiders, the AMMFHL co-leaders and tournament finalists.
Alyssa Thacker, Brooke Tipton and Lindsay Gillis tallied goals against Melville and Clark faced 33 shots.
The Slash outshot Fraser Valley 25-19 and the shot count against the Raiders was 37-12 for the winners.
Meanwhile, defenceman Kyrelle Skoye and forwards Breanna Golosky and Breanna Jones represent the Slash at the AMMFHL all-star game Sunday in Okotoks.
Last weekend, the St. Albert Raiders recorded consecutive victories for the first time this season in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
The Raiders (6-18-2) also jumped one point ahead of the last-place KC Pats (4-17-5) in the north standings after posting road wins of 4-3 against the Leduc Oil Kings (11-10-4) and 5-3 against the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (8-13-5).
Aidan Steinke, Brandon Cutler, Colin Schmidt and Connor Tupla scored in Leduc and Ethan Crotty (4-9, 4.45 GAA) stopped a game-high 23 shots.
The Raiders led 3-0 after the first period and Tupla snapped a 3-3 tie with 12:32 remaining.
Schmidt potted a pair in the Fort, including a shorthanded effort in the third as the Raiders outscored the home team 3-1.
Schmidt is the team’s top scorer with 16 goals and 25 points in 26 games.
Ryan Cooper, Cam Lockard and Garrett Clegg also notched singles. Lockard and Leif Mattson picked up two assists apiece.
The Rangers struck three times on the power play.
Shots were 35-31 for the Raiders and Thomas Davis (2-9-2, 3.82 GAA) was in net.
The Raiders are in Sherwood Park to play the Kings (12-9-4) Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
The next home game is Jan. 16 versus the Lloydminster Bobcats (18-4-2) at 1:45 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
