The highlight of every season for the St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres is hosting the prestigious John Reid Memorial Tournament.
This year marks the 34th anniversary of the best bantam AAA invitational hockey tournament in western Canada.
"The kids have really been looking forward to it. It's important to them," said Terry Ballard, head coach of the Sabres. "What we've told the kids is to go in loose and relaxed and let's make sure we have a fun and positive experience. If we can knock off a few teams and win a few games then we'll be even happier."
The tournament starts Thursday at 8 a.m. at Servus Credit Union Place. In the 16-team draw the Sabres will challenge the Burnaby Winter Club Bruins, Calgary Bisons, Calgary Bronks, Calgary Royals, Canadian Athletic Club, Cloverdale Colts, Lloydminster Heat, Los Angeles Selects, North Shore Winter Club WinterHawks of Vancouver, Notre Dame Hounds, Prairie Storm of Balgonie, Sask., Pursuit of Excellence Academy of Kelowna, Semiahmoo Ravens, Sherwood Park Flyers and the SSAC Southgate Lions for championship honours.
The Sabres are familiar with some of the teams through league play and the Medicine Hat Hockey Hounds tournament in November.
"We know we can compete with anybody, it's just a matter of what we're like that day," Ballard said.
The Sabres finished 3-2 in Medicine Hat after opening the tournament with a 2-1 loss to North Shore. In the final Burnaby blanked North Shore 4-0.
"North Shore was a game we could've won. We played outstanding," Ballard said. "We played very, very well down there because we didn't really focus on the tournament. We just made sure we played our game and were consistent."
Lion tamers
In the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League the Sabres (16-4-6) are the only team to beat the first-place Lions (20-2-3) and they did it twice: 4-3 in September and 3-1 last month.
"We've done very well against them. We have to be at the top of our game to play them and we did those two times," Ballard said. "They've beat us once [5-3 in October] but it was a tight game until the end when we took an undisciplined penalty and they scored a couple of goals."
In Wednesday's 4-4 draw at Akinsdale Arena the lead changed hands several times before Quinn Greenly of the Lions netted the equalizer with his third goal and fourth point of the game with under five minutes to play.
Bradley Holmes, Dylan Overdyk, Myrko Vachon and Brendan Kallis scored for the Sabres. Shots were 40-33 for the Lions. In net for the Sabres was Patrick Dea.
"They're a very good team. They're very well coached and they've got some real good top end players and those players perform every game. We've identified who they are and it's up to us to try and keep them off the score sheet," Ballard said. "We match up well with them. It's just a matter of making sure we execute and play as a team against them."
The Sabres are battling the Lions and Sherwood Park (18-4-3) for top spot in arguably the toughest of the league's four divisions.
"This northern [conference] is very, very difficult. There are some very good players and some very good teams," Ballard said. "I'm pretty confident that the team that comes out of this northern area will probably be the provincial champs, whether it's the team from Lloyd, which is very good, or one of the two or three teams in our division."
Steady progression
This is Ballard's first season with the Sabres after a long stint as the NAIT Ooks' bench boss.
"It's been a lot of fun and a great year. The kids are outstanding. They've progressed nicely to where they are now," he said. "We've played up to expectations but we've still got another step or two to make. We've been inconsistent at times but we've fixed some of that. Our team dynamics is really good in terms of cooperation, teamwork and how we get along as a group and that really helps your performance on the ice."
The biggest improvement during the season was with the team's structure play.
"The athletes at this level are very good and committed and dedicated and early on you may get away with winning a few games from individual skill and some individual play but as the season progresses every team gets better and if you're not improving your team structure then you will be left behind. We've done that and that's simply because the players are sponges. They're soaking up everything that we're trying to teach them as coaches and then it's just up to them to execute during the game."
The Sabres are in action tonight against the Maple Leafs (5-19-1) at 7:30 p.m. at Millwoods Arena.
ICE CHIPS: The Sabres are in the same tournament pool as Notre Dame, Los Angeles and Cloverdale. See page 54 for the game times or visit www.johnreidmemorial.com
Los Angeles will make its second tournament appearance in three years after becoming the first United States team to win the championship in 2010.
A new champion will be crowned this year with the Kamloops Jardine Blazers not returning to defend their title.
The only St. Albert team to win the tournament was the 1983 Territorial Leasing Sabres.
The guest speaker for Saturday's awards banquet at the Mayfield Inn Ballroom is TSN broadcaster Bryan Mudryk. The highlight of the night is the presentation of the John Reid Memorial Award for heart and hustle to a Sabres player.
