After 42 games played over the span of four days, featuring 16 elite bantam hockey teams, the Kamloops Jardine Blazers emerged victorious when the dust finally settled at the John Reid Memorial Tournament.
The Blazers posted a 3-2 victory against the Spruce Grove PAC Saints in Sunday’s final at Performance Arena. Down by one after the first frame, Mitchell Barker and Carter Cochrane scored in the second and Chad Butcher made it 3-1 in the third. Shots were 33-27 for the Blazers. In net was Liam Mcleod.
For the Saints, Brady Gilchrist and Jason Miller scored in support of netminder T.J. Bartlett.
Head coach Don Schulz said the Blazers’ work in the trenches put the team on top.
“Our guys really seemed to grow in terms of battling and competing for loose pucks,” he said. “We did two weeks of battle drills before in preparation for this tournament and it really seemed to pay off as it transpired into some success.”
In round robin play the Blazers were 2-1. Their only loss was a 4-3 setback against the SSAC Southgate Lions, ranked second overall in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League with a record of 19-3-3.
In the quarter-finals in the A playoff bracket, the Blazers defeated the Calgary Bisons 5-3 and in the semifinals knocked off the Burnaby Winter Club, last year’s tournament finalists, by a score of 4-0. Kyle Michalovsky posted the shutout with 32 saves.
The Blazers were able to neutralize a Burnaby line-up that racked up 26 goals in four games.
“It came down to goaltending and our goaltender in this situation was better than theirs,” said Schulz. “We’ve had very close games with them all year, and with the exception of this game, there has never been more than a two goal lead by either team and the shots are always extremely close.”
At the awards banquet, Joseph Hicketts of the Blazers was recognized as the tournament’s top defenceman and most valuable player. Hicketts (2-3-5, 24 PIM in six games) and Blazers’ forward Ryan Gropp (4-6-10 in four games) also made the Jarome Iginla all-star team.
Butcher led the Blazers in scoring with 15 points in six games. Cochrane netted a team-high five goals in six games.
The 33rd annual St. Albert bantam AAA tournament was packed with Western Hockey League scouts, and some teams may have felt the extra pressure associated with the clipboards and pens. However, the Blazers had already played in five other high-level tournaments since the start of the season, so nerves were not a problem for Schulz’s squad.
“Our guys are used to it now. We very much stress the playing of the game and not being caught up in all the distractions and the circumstance of where they are,” he said.
For complete tournament results, visit www.johnreidmemorial.com.
