After a strong start, the St. Albert Sabres ended the John Reid Memorial Tournament with three straight losses.
In round robin play, the host team beat the Red Deer Rebels White 2-1 and the Phoenix Junior Coyotes 6-1 before getting waxed 8-1 by the offensively gifted Burnaby Winter Club in the last game before the elimination round.
Head coach Umberto Fiorillo believes the outcome of the game could be related to some unlucky breaks in critical parts of the match.
“It was a matter of a bad bounce early and we never got back on track,” he said. “Their power play exposed our penalty kill and their special teams performed better than ours.”
The Sabres never recovered from the loss. In Saturday’s quarter-finals in the A playoff bracket, they dropped a 4-2 decision to the Spruce Grove PAC Saints. They wrapped up the 33rd annual St. Albert bantam AAA tournament with a 3-0 loss Sunday to the Kelowna Pursuit of Excellence Academy.
Despite the losing record, Fiorillo said the Sabres can take positives out of the whole experience.
“It was a great tournament. We played really well in parts of it,” he said. “If you’re not learning you shouldn’t be in this game. We will take what we learned and continue to build on the positives.”
The Sabres were led offensively in the tournament by Tyler Mrkonjic’s three goals and four points and Brett Smythe’s two goals and four points.
Patrick Dea (1-1, 2.52 GAA) and Patrick Gora (1-2, 4.94 GAA) shared time in net.
The Sabres (18-6-3) skated into the tournament with the third-highest point total (39) in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League and were two points back of the division-leading SSAC Southgate Lions (19-3-3).
Fiorillo is confident the tournament showed him in what areas the team needs to improve before the division semifinals start Feb. 15.
“We learned that our compete level and our special teams are areas that we really need to focus on heading into the playoff stretch. We had good performances by players throughout the tournament, we just need every single player to be a key contributor on our team.”
The tournament is considered one of the top bantam AAA competitions in western Canada and is heavily scouted by Western Hockey League teams.
“Every year it gets better and better. The organizing committee finds more elite-level teams. This year all 16 teams were elite and every one was competitive.”
Meanwhile, the big winner of the John Reid Memorial Award for heart and hustle was Mrkonjic. It’s presented to the Sabres’ player who exemplifies hard work, talent, determination and sportsmanship at the tournament. Previous recipients were Jake Mykitiuk, Jed Groenenboom, Josh Winquist, Ryan Harrison, Steve Wall, Blaine Bokenfohr and Nate Fleming.
“It means a lot to get this award as a hockey player but without my teammates I wouldn't be able to achieve this award because they are the ones who make me better on the ice,” said Mrkonjic, a second-year Sabres forward
The tournament was renamed in John Reid’s memory in 2004 and the award symbolizes the person and hockey player he was. The high-scoring forward with the St. Albert Saints, Sherwood Park Crusaders and Alberta Golden Bears was an active coach in St. Albert in minor hockey and lacrosse. He died of leukemia at age 41 on Nov. 6, 2003.
