This year’s John Reid Memorial Scholarship winner symbolizes the same distinguished traits as the award’s namesake.
“It’s very humbling to be considered a role model to some young minds as you try and help change the future,” said student/athlete Curtis Peck, the recipient of the $1,000 scholarship. “I actually reached out to a couple players who John Reid coached and they told me some of his characteristics and how he acted on the bench and even off the ice and on the ice. It’s guys like that you try and reflect on and look forward to being moving forward as a person.”
The Reid scholarship, established by the parent group of the 2004-05 St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres with Trudy Kueber at the forefront of the initiative, recognizes former St. Albert bantam AAA players who are contributing members of society, academically inspired, volunteer driven and display a passion for hockey the same way Reid did before succumbing to leukemia at age 41 on Nov. 6, 2003.
The next year the St. Albert bantam AAA tournament was renamed in Reid’s memory.
“We’re very proud to have John’s name attached to such a prestigious tournament,” said Reid’s wife, Darcy, during the scholarship presentation at Thursday’s opening ceremonies at Go Auto Arena.
Reid was a prolific scorer with the St. Albert Saints and Sherwood Park Crusaders in the Alberta Junior Hockey League and the Alberta Golden Bears.
As a coach in hockey and lacrosse, Reid was a positive role model for hundreds of youths.
Individuals who played bantam AAA for the Sabres after the 2004-05 season and played hockey in St. Albert for a minimum of three years were eligible to apply for the scholarship.
Previous winners selected by the John Reid Memorial Society Scholarship Fund executive were Justin Kueber, Joshua Maeda, Steven Woolger, Brady McCorriston, Ryan Harrison, Liam Liston, co-recipients’ Steven Canduro and Brady Reid in 2015, Brad Holmes, Tyler Dea and last year it was Josh Perrott.
“This year we had a record number of impressive applicants, but this Concordia University of Edmonton student stood out. He has strong leadership qualities and has won many leadership awards. He had been commended by many for his integrity, respect and compassion for others in his everyday life. He is a committed volunteer with a number of organizations from special needs to young children and the elderly. He will be lifelong volunteer,” said Darcy, who described Peck as a “very well-rounded young man” and “well deserving student.”
Peck, 21, was overwhelmed by the accolades bestowed upon himself as the scholarship recipient.
“With the Reid family acknowledging me like this with so other many people that are deserving, it’s just very humbling,” said the first-year bachelor of management student and centreman with the Concordia Thunder in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference.
“I'm enjoying it so far. It’s not too bad. I thought it would be hard balancing between hockey and school, but it’s pretty easy so far,” Peck added. “You kind of get into a routine of balancing school and hockey and we’ve got a lot of the older guys we look to for advice for schooling and in hockey as well.”
As for the 3-10-2 Thunder, “It’s a great group of guys. We’re just struggling a little bit right now, but we’re hopefully going to turn it up in the second half,” said Peck, who has recorded two goals and three assists in 15 games.
The 2012 Reid tournament was the highlight of Peck’s minor hockey career in St. Albert and his teammates with the 1-4 Sabres included defenceman Josh Mahura (1-10-11 in 17 games with the Anaheim Ducks), forward Matteo Gennaro (6-3-9 in 34 games with the Tucson Roadrunners in the American Hockey League), netminders’ Patrick Dea (UBC Thunderbirds) and Matt Murray (University of Massachusetts Amherst) and two of the last three scholarship winners in Perrott and Holmes.
“It was amazing. We had such a special group of guys, and relating back to the Humboldt incident, that was the last year I got to play with my best friend, Stephen Wack,” said Peck, who picked up one assist in five games and during the regular season in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League finished third in team scoring behind Gennaro (23-21-44) and Ethan Lazaro (18-22-40) with 15 goals and 38 points.
“We all came together after that (tournament). We were such a tight group and it's amazing to see how far down the road, even for guys who don’t see each other for a long time, that something like that really brings guys back together,” Peck said.
Another major accomplishment team-wise for Peck to experience was winning the 2014 Fountain Tire Cup in the Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey league with the 50-10-6 St. Albert Crusaders.
“That was a special group we had as well and luckily we were able to win the cup that year. We showed up a little short in provincials, but that was all right,” Peck said. “To this day we’re all pretty close and keep in touch.”
The top three playoff scorers were the Crusaders’ potent line combination of captain Matt Havens (nine goals, 33 points), Peck (13 goals, 27 points) and Cam Mazur (10 goals, 23 points), who also skated with the 2012 Sabres.
“I played with two great linemates that year with Matt and Cam. Matt was such a smart player and a puck distributor, and Cam and I could both finish,” said the St. Albert Catholic High School graduate.
After the 2014-15 midget AAA season with the Canadian Athletic Club (12-14-26 in 34 games), Peck embarked on a junior career with the 2015-16 Drayton Valley Thunder (1-1-2 in 42 games) of the Alberta Junior Hockey League and the 2016-17 La Ronge Ice Wolves (10-16-26 in 58 games) and 2017-18 Kindersley Klippers (15-24-39 in 53 games) of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League while cutting his teeth as a minor hockey coach along the way.
“When I was gone playing junior I was helping coach my billet families’ kids in initiation and novice and atom all the way up to peewee. We won some games, lost some games but we had fun. Hopefully I changed some of the outlooks on some players and taught them not only roles on the ice but how to treat themselves and others off the ice as well.”
