John Reid Memorial Tournament - Day 1

JOHN REID MEMORIAL - DAY 1

Opening Ceremonies

Cloverdale 7 - Notre Dame 5
The Cloverdale Colts as expected were able to defeat Notre Dame, but not by the amount many of us may have expected they would.  With the loss Notre Dame is finished, while Cloverdale has clinched a spot in the playoff rounds.  It just isn't known yet if they will finish first or second.  If they loss to St. Albert tomorrow, they will finish 2nd by virtue of St. Albert having beat them.  A St. Albert win would also eliminate L.A. due to Cloverdale's head to head win over them earlier in the day.  A Cloverdale victory tomorrow over St. Albert, gives L.A. the 2nd place finish.  In this game though, Cloverdale had all they could handle.  They would start off the scoring 5 minutes in to the first on a goal by Jordan Henderson.  Then Notre Dame would tie it at the midway point of period one on a goal from Salt Lake City, UT born Angus Scott and it was 1-1 after 1.  In the 2nd, Chris Seto gave Cloverdale the lead but it was once again short lived as Angus Scott scored his 2nd of the game.  Then Scott would set up Colin Bursten to give Notre Dame a 3-2 lead with 7 minutes to go in the 2nd.  Just 23 seconds later though, Tyler Soy tied it at 3-3.  Then late in the 2nd was a flurry of goals, first it was Jack Flaman giving Notre Dame the lead once again at 4-3 then Chris Seto and Parker Wotherspoon scored just 30 seconds apart to give Cloverdale a 5-4 leading heading the dressing room.   In the 3rd, Kamen George gave Notre Dame a 5-5 tie that would hold up until just 9 minutes remaining as Jakob Stukel scored his 4th of the tournament and Cloverdale would salt it away with a late Tyler Soy SH marker to win it 7-5 in a wild one.  As is the norm with Cloverdale, the line of Stukel/Soy/Seto was just too much on this night as they would combine for 5 goals and 10 points.  Defenceman Parker Wotherspoon had 3 helpers.


Los Angeles Selects 3 - St. Albert 2

Another of the pre-tournament favourites almost went down and out just as the NSWC did earlier this evening as the Selects were able to eek out a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over host St. Albert.  Both teams now enter tomorrow's action at 1-1.  St. Albert would open the scoring as Ethan Lazaro scored late in the first period.  Lazaro is 2nd on the Sabres in goals this season with 18 in 27 games.  In the 2nd period, the Sabres would increase their lead to 2-0 as this team Matteo Gennaro would score on a pass from Lazaro.   Both Lazaro and Gennaro had 2 points each.  Cue the comeback as Alec Mehr cut the gap to 2-1 and then Ty Comrie went to work scoring late in the 2nd period from Robby Jackson and then Comrie scored again SH from Robby Jackson again to give the Selects a 3-2 lead after the 2nd period.  The Selects out-shot St. Albert 44-32.   Sarthou for L.A. and Dea for the Sabres were both outstanding.


Calgary Bisons 6 - NSWC 2
The Calgary Bisons bounce back from an early loss to POE by defeating one of the favourites to win the entire tournament in NSWC.  NSWC are now 0-2-0 and have been out-scored 11-5 and look to be finished already which is somewhat of a big surprise.  The Bisons would score early and often in the 1st period as first round rated prospect Braylon Shmyr scored just over one minute in to the game.  Then just past the midway point of the first period Nick Merkley scored his 2nd of the tournament to give the Bisons a 2-0 lead and then  D- Bradley Forrest scored late in the first period to give them a 3-0 lead after the first period.  In the 2nd period, it was more of the same as Braylon Shmyr scored early to make it 4-0 on his 2nd of the game.  However with just 3 seconds left in the period big Cal Babych broke the shut-out and gave NSWC a glimmer of hope at 4-1.  In the 3rd, D- Hayden Kelly and then Nick Merkley with his 2nd of the game would make it 6-1 very early.  Nash Dabb scored a late 3rd period goal to make the final 6-2.  Both Nick Merkley and Braylon Shmyr had 2-1-3, while G - Logan Thompson stopped 25/27 shots he faced.  NSWC starter Bo Didur stopped just 22/27 and Taz Burman in relief stopped 4/5 to mop up the final 17 minutes.

POE 4 - Sherwood Park 1


In a battle of two of the better defensive teams in the tournament, it was POE winning out 4-1.  They were once again without their star forward and most dynamic player in Jordan Kawaguchi who continues to sit with an apparent flu/cold.  Sherwood Park would score the games first goal and head to the 1st period intermission with a 1-0 lead on a goal by Grayson Pawlenchuk.  Pawlenchuk is currently 2nd on the team behind 98 born Sam Steel with 18 goals in 25 games in AMBHL regular season.  Things would change in the 2nd period though as D- Tyler Brown would score to tie the game up at 1-1.  Brown is an American born player who made the  move to POE from Washington State this year.  Then 98 born Kody McDonald would give POE a 2-1 lead. McDonald is having a nice season with 18 goals in 37 games with POE.  Then in the 3rd it was another 98 born player  scoring as Tyson Jost made it 3-1, Jost is 2nd in POE scoring this year with 86 points in 43 games and should have a fair amount of family there as he is from Leduc.  Trevor Ayre, yet another 98 born scoring very late to make it a 4-1 final.


Semiahmoo 6 - Balgonie 1


The Balgonie Prairie Storm got their first taste of elite hockey teams from western Canada and came up short 6-1 to a very strong Semiahmoo squad this afternoon.  The Ravens had leads of 2-0 and 4-0 by periods.  In the 1st period it was Darian Craighead opening up the scoring just over a minute in and then Cole Plotnikoff scoring later in the period for a 2-0 advantage.  In the 2nd, Matt Bradley and D- Keenan Scardina scored to make it 4-0 after 2.  In the 3rd, Cole Plotnikoff and Darien Craighead each scored their 2nd goals of the game sandwiched in the middle was a Balgonie goal from Saskatchewan "AA" scoring leader Jayden Halbgewachs. Craighead had a big game with 2-2-4, Wesley 0-3-3 and dman Jake Fletcher was 0-2-2.  Shots were:  Balgonie 21 - Semiahmoo 26
Pyne for Balgonie stopped just 20/26
Wornig for Semiahmoo stopped 20/21

BWC 4 - Calgary Bronks 1

BWC would hold a huge territorial advantage in this game but the Bronks got a strong effort in goal from Riley Morris, stopping 37/41 shots.  BWC would score just 12secs in to the game as Justin Szeto took a pass from Matt Barzal for an early 1-0 lead. Despite pressing for the rest of the period, Morris would hold strong and it was 1-0 after 1.  In the 2nd, Justin Szeto would score his 2nd of the game for a 2-0 lead and then Ty Ronning made it 3-0 and that is the way it would stand after 2.  In the 3rd period, 98 born Nolan Kurylo would score for the Bronks to make it a game and cut the gap to 3-1.  However, just over 2 minutes later Ty Ronning scored his 2nd of the game from Musil and Barzal to make it a 4-1 final.  All four of BWC main offensive players; Musil, Barzal, Szeto and Ronning all scored 2 points in the game, nobody else made the score-sheet.  Nick McBride stopped 19/20 for BWC.

Edmonton CAC 9 - Lloydminster 2

In what should've been a far closer contest, wasn't, as CAC took it to a very good Lloydminster team who has just 4 regular season losses in the AMBHL by a score of 9-2.  CAC was led by Cole Gammer who had 2-2-4, Dylan Stewart with 3-1-4, Burke, Marshall and Dykstra were amongst the other goal scorers for CAC.  Lloydminster had goals from D- James Hilsendager, 98 D- Kale Clague and Taylor Anshelm.  Of note in this game was that top 2 round ranked F- Andrew Koep was held totally off the score-sheet and received a 5 minute interference major and a game misconduct for running CAC G- Tyler Kwiatkowski.  No word yet on possible suspension.  Lloydminster goalies Cochrane and Heisler combined to stop just 30 of 39 shots.  Kwiatkowski stopped 17/19 before his departure and Max Smith stopped 6/7.

Early Draw
POE 2 - Calgary Bisons 1

POE survives a bit of a scare and comes on top with a narrow 2-1 win over underdog - Calgary Bions.   POE is without their main offensive catalyst Jordan Kawaguchi due to illness, no word on whether he will return today and of course the recently departed Will Lawrence who switched over to BWC.  Goals may be hard to come from for POE in this tournament if Kawaguchi is out for a bit..  In this one, Joe Gatenby would score first to put POE up 1-0 late in the first but just 22 seconds later Nick Merkley who is playing ill scored to tie things up a 1-1.  In the 2nd, Liam Finlay would score the eventual game winner.  Finlay was the only multiple point scorer in the game and will now be relied heavily upon to carry the offensive load.  POE had 3 AP players in the line-up, including starting goale Cody Porter who turned aside 22/23 shots.  Michael Barabash stopped 26/28 for the Bisons.  Next up for the Bisons is NSWC.  Big game for both teams, loser is likely out already.

Sherwood Park 5 - NSWC 3

It didn't take long for one of the first upsets to occur at the tournament today as in the first game of action, it was Sherwood Park, ranked 9th in the tournament defeated the 2nd ranked NSWC 5-3.  Sherwood Park would take a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by a pair of their outstanding defenceman Brendan Guhle and then Cameron Reagan.  In the 2nd period, another defenceman, this time from NSWC would score as Mark O'Shaunessy cut the gap in half to 2-1. In the 3rd period, 40 seconds in, it was 98 born Sam Steel giving Sherwood Park a commanding 3-1 lead.  Then Jansen Harkins who is expected to be a top 10 selection in May's bantam draft scored two goals to tie things up at 3-3.  Then with about 7minutes to play, Jesse Zaharichuk would score the game winner and his 3rd point of the game.  River Beattie added a late one in to an EN for the 5-3 Sherwood Park win.  Guhle, Steel and Zaharichuk all had multiple point games for Sherwood Park while Harkins, Babych and Hannoun each had 2 points for NSWC.  Sherwood Park outshot NSWC 35-24.  It was Burman vs. Klassen in goal.

St. Albert 3 - Notre Dame 1

St. Albert held leads of 1-0 and 2-0 by periods with goals from Cameron Mazur (SH) in the first and then Tristan Gavin on a (PS) in the 2nd.  The 3rd period saw Jacob Vance score to make it close.  Vance has just 2 goals in 23 league games in Saskatchewan.  Then Cameron Mazur scored his 2nd of the game in to an empty net with seconds remaining.  Matt Kustra of Notre Dame stopped 25/27shots he faced while his counterpart Patrick Dea stopped 23/24.


Calgary Royals 4 - SSAC 1


As has been the case all season long, the Calgary Royals used their depth and team play to beat the team they are tied with atop the AMBHL league standings.  The Royals got off to a quick start which is key for them on goals by D- Charlie Marchand and Carter Huber.  Marchand had just 1 goal in league play coming in to the tournament!  Late in the first period Josh Hayward was able to get one by Sawchenko to cut the gap after the first to 2-1.  In the 2nd period, Josh Giacomin and Tyler Rohl would score a couple late markers to give the Royals a 4-1 lead which they would clamp down on in the 3rd for the 4-1 Final.  Royals captain Cameron Anklewich picked up 3 helpers.  Royals G- Zach Sawchenko turned aside 16/17 shots while SSAC G- Stuart Skinner stopped 32/36.



Cloverdale 7 - LA Selects 4

In a battle of two very potent offensive teams, the game started out slow with both teams failing to find the back of the net in the first period.  The second period proved to be a totally different story though as top ranked western U.S forward Robby Jackson scored early to make it a 1-0 Selects lead.  The lead lasted in to the later portions of the 2nd period when the flood gates opened up in a big way with 5 goals in just over 3 minutes of play.  First it was Chris Seto scoring for Cloverdale to tie it at 1-1, then Jake Rainer gave the Selects 2-1 lead just 20 seconds later.  42 seconds after that, Cloverdale tied it on a goal from Jacob Stukel from Chris Seto and then Alec Mehr gave L.A the lead with a SH marker before D- Tyler Fraser tied it for Cloverdale for a 3-3 tie heading to the 3rd.  In the 3rd, top 10 ranked Tyler Soy scored 2 PP goals in a span of 25 seconds to give the Colts a commanding 5-3 lead.  Robby Jackson would add his 2nd of the game to make it 5-4 and then Stukel his 2nd to make it 7-4.