The lineup has been finalized for the John Reid Memorial Tournament and every team is a contender for the championship trophy.
Forty-three teams submitted applications for the 37th annual St. Albert bantam AAA tournament but only 15 teams will join the host St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres at the Jan. 15 to 18 competition.
The mandate of the tournament selection committee is to bring together an elite group of teams from across western North America.
Cam Wietzel, the selection committee chair since 2009, was fielding calls in June from interested teams and the committee accepted applications right before the mid-November decision process.
“It was extremely difficult this year and it seems to get tougher each year. The biggest reason for that is the teams that are applying realize the John Reid is kind of the elite of the elite tournaments in western North America. We get really high quality applicants every year and it’s very tough to whittle the list down,” Wietzel said.
The Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League teams include the Calgary Flames (10-1-5), Calgary Bisons (9-1-4), Sherwood Park Flyers (9-2-3), SSAC Southgate Lions (10-4) and Sabres (9-4-3).
The Calgary-based Edge Academy is also entered.
The British Columbia teams include the defending champion Okanagan Hockey Academy, North Shore Winter Club Hawks, last year’s third-place finishers and 2013 champions, Burnaby Winter Club Bruins and Delta Hockey Academy Wild.
The Yorkton Terriers and Winnipeg Warriors round out the Canadian contingent.
The Anaheim Jr. Ducks, Colorado Thunderbirds, Dallas Jr. Stars Elite and Los Angeles Jr. Kings, last year’s finalists, are the United States representatives.
Wietzel stressed there is no clear-cut favourite.
“Typically you have two, three or four teams you think are the real frontrunners but this year it’s a lot deeper than that and honestly I don’t know if there is any team you can count out of it. Everybody has had strong years. There hasn’t been a hugely dominated team in Alberta that there typically is and the B.C. teams are very competitive,” he said.
“The Winnipeg team is an interesting one. They are top in their league but because of the rules with the Winnipeg hockey association, teams are only allowed to play one out of province tournament so January will be the first time anybody outside of Manitoba has had a chance to see the Warriors and they are the highest rated team in Manitoba.
“The Yorkton team comes from a smaller community and is classed as an AA team in Saskatchewan because they don’t have AAA but they were very, very good in the tournament in Calgary last weekend (as the runner-up to Delta Hockey Academy) and they’ve been awesome in their league.”
Dallas and Phoenix join the Kings as the returning United States teams.
“Having teams from the U.S. adds a whole new dimension to the tournament. We’re really happy to have some of the teams that we did get this year. Currently two of the teams are ranked top 10 in the entire U.S. and Colorado and L.A .are also the top two teams in the western United States. The Anaheim team was in the top 10 at one point this year in the U.S. and they’ve dropped a little bit but are still a solid team in that top 20, as are the Dallas Stars.
“They’re all exceptional teams. With out question this is the deepest group of U.S. teams we’ve ever had.”
The sons of NHL players Joe Sakic, Adam Foote and Sergei Krivokrasov are on the Colorado roster and Lev Bure, son of former NHLer Valeri Bure and Candace Cameron, who was D.J. Tanner on Full House, plays for the Kings.
“As far as name recognition you’re not going to get much better than that. It’s kind of neat to see these great players’ kids following in their fathers’ footsteps,” Wietzel said.
The St. Albert tournament, renamed in Reid’s honour in 2004, is major event for Western Hockey League scouts evaluating draft-eligible bantam players.
A lengthy list of tournament alumni have gone on to play in the NHL, including Chicago Blackhawks’ captain Jonathan Toews, the all-time tournament scoring leader with a whopping 21 goals and 36 points in seven games for the 2003 champion Winnipeg Warriors.
The latest player to make the NHL is Curtis Lazar, the tournament MVP in 2010 with the Pursuit of Excellence of Kelowna. The former Edmonton Oil King is now with the Ottawa Senators.
Visit www.johnreidmemorial.com for more tournament information.
