Reid tournament 'Fun Facts'

The John Reid Memorial Tournament is steeped in hockey history as one of the marquee bantam AAA competitions in western Canada.

This year’s 16-team event highlights the top 2001 and 2002 born players in western Canada and the United States.

Last year, more than 100 Western Hockey League and junior A scouts attended the tournament and almost 90 players were selected in the 2015 WHL bantam draft, including 14 of the 21 first-round picks.

The 38th annual competition starts at 8 a.m. Thursday and ends with Sunday’s 2 p.m. final at Servus Credit Union Place.

The following “Fun Facts” were compiled by the tournament committee, with assistance by St. Albert hockey historian, Larry Mitchell.

• The all-time single tournament scoring leader is Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks, who racked up a whooping 36 points in seven games in 2003 with the champion Winnipeg Warriors.

• At least 110 tournament alumni have gone on to play in the NHL, including Toews, Scott and Rob Niedermeyer, Rod Brind’Amour, Vincent Lecavalier, Mike Comrie, Brad Richards, Patrick Sharp, Eric Stall, Joffrey Lupul, Cam Ward, Dion Phaneuf, Jordan Eberle, Brendan Gallagher, Tyson Barrie, Ryan Murray, Morgan Rielly and Curtis Lazar.

• Sabres alumni who reached the NHL include Dean Clark, Emanuel Viveiros, Todd Ewen, Rob Brown, Greg Hawgood, Roy Mitchell, Jamie McLennan, Geoff Sanderson, Jason Holland, Jarome Iginla, Brett Lysak, Brendan Mikkelson, Ryan Stanton, Tyler Bunz and Colton Parayko.

• Four players from the inaugural 1979 tournament played in the NHL: Clark of the Territorial Leasing Sabres, John Kordic of the KC Squires, Ken Yaremchuk of the MLAC Bay Drugs and Gerald Diduck of the champion Sherwood Park Bumpers.

• The Thunder Bay Kings (1997 to 2000) won a tournament record four championships in a row and the 1997 team featured five future NHLers: Sharp, Taylor Pyatt, Aaron MacKenzie, Jason Jaspers and Alex Auld.

• The 2005 North Shore Winter Club Winterhawks had four future NHLers in the lineup: Martin Jones, Drew Shore, Stefan Elliot and Evander Kane.

• The Notre Dame Hounds are second behind the Sabres in alumni to play in the NHL with 12.

• Chicago, Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers are tied for having the most tournament alumni play their first NHL game with seven apiece.

• Ty Smith, the first overall WHL pick in the 2015 bantam draft by the Spokane Chiefs, was voted the top defenceman in last year’s tournament with the champion Delta Hockey Academy Wild.

• Tyler Benson of the SSAC Southgate Lions set the tournament career scoring record with 40 points in the 2012 and 2013 editions, surpassing Michael St. Croix’s total of 38 in 2007 and 2008 with the Winnipeg Monarchs.

• As of Monday, tournament alumni Tyson Baillie of the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers was the WHL’s leading scorer with 66 points in 42 games with the Kelowna Rockets.

• Teams from Manitoba have won the tournament seven times: St. Boniface Saints (1980), Winnipeg River East Royals (1982 and 1984), Winnipeg Hawks (1990 and 1992), Winnipeg Warriors (2003) and Winnipeg Monarchs (2004).

• The first non-Canadian team to win the tournament was the Los Angeles Selects in 2010 and the last Alberta team to hoist the championship cup was the 2009 SSAC Southgate Lions.

• In 2014, HC Kometa Brno of the Czech Republic was the first European team in tournament history and finished 2-2-1.

• Six tournament alumni were invited to Hockey Canada’s pre-tournament 2016 World Junior Hockey Championship selection camp in December, including two returnees from the 2015 gold-medal team, Joe Hicketts of the Kamloops Jardine Blazers and Brayden Point of the Calgary Bisons.