One of, if not THE biggest bantam tournaments will take place in Medicine Hat, AB from November 15-18 at various rinks throughout Medicine Hat, including; the Kinplex, Hockey Hounds Arena and the Moose Rec Centre.
Of the WEHP current top 10 team rankings, just OHA and Sherwood Park are absent. We do know that OHA is attending the Calgary Flames tournament during the same weekend and Sherwood Park may be as well. It is unclear which Regina and Winnipeg teams these are but our guess is the Hawks and the Pat Blues, so we'll go with that for the time being until confirmed. On the surface, the divisions look fairly balanced with 2 teams in each division who are at or near the top 10 in western Canada for teams. The White Division will have the Regain AA Pat Blues who are coming off a tournament victory this past weekend and are 2-0-0 in league play but could be severly over-matched. The Strongest division looks to be the Red Division with Langley, Semiahmoo, Notre Dame and SSAC. The western Canada Bantam Championship hosts West Central have gained a birth in the tournament and are 5-0-1 in league play in the SBAAHL. They will get a true gauge of where they stand and how much they may or may not need to do, playing in this tournament. The Blue division looks the weakest and could be truely wide open, meaning the hosts could potentially win the division.
We will have a much more detailed preview in one of the up coming newsletters.
Here is a look at how the pools shake down:
*Denotes current WEHP Team ranking.
White Division
North Shore Winter Club (2)
Regina (16)
Lloydminster Heat (5)
Calgary Northstar Sabres (10)
Red Divison
Langley Eagles (9)
SSAC Southgate Lions (1)
Notre Dame Hounds (6)
Semiahmoo Ravens (13)
Green Division
Calgary Bisons (3)
Winnipeg (7)
Burnaby Winter Club (4)
West Central Wheat Kings (14)
Blue Division
Medicine Hat (12)
Abbotsford Hawks (11)
Airdrie (15)
POE (8)
18 comments:
What a joke...how do the Royals not get into Med Hat but the Sabres and Airdrie do???
How does Leth not get in but airdrie does
Keep in mind that the Calgary Flames Bantam AAA's are also holding a tournament the same weekend which will feature many of the remaining top teams as well.
Calgary Flames Bantam Tournament - Who is in this one- Can you shed some light on who can enter, or who has entered.
Airdrie regina will get demolished
The easiest pool is the Medicine Hat Pool and should be a cake walk for Lllodminster and NSWC who cross over aginst that pool.
NSWC and Llloy will be lock for semi final given their pool and cross over group.
Why put Airdrie in the same pool as Medicine Hat.
Lets hope the Calgary tournament becomes a better option.
Agree that Royals and Lethbridge more deserving.
Looks like Medicine Hat didnt want to play the top teams or top teams like SSAC or LLoy.
I have heard about the Calgary tournament as well, this is what I know;
It's a new Bantam AAA showcase tournament that the kids and the scouts are going to love!
The newly created Rocky Mountain Classic in Calgary will be on the same weekend as the Medicine Hat tournament. It's going to be a battle over the next couple of years to see who attracts the top teams in the West. If today is any indication, and I think it is, the Rocky Mountain Classic has already secured top level teams such as OHA, Sherwood Park, Calgary Royals and Winnipeg Monarchs their first year out. Impressive! The tournament will have all their games at the new world class Winsport facility, home of Hockey Canada, plus all the many benefits a major city such as Calgary has to offer. Without a doubt the Rocky Mountain Classic has the formula for making it THE choice to showcase elite Bantam AAA teams and players for years to come. Time to pass the torch Med Hat.
Airdrie got in with a 2-5 record...?
Wouldn't have minded seeing another team from the north like Sherwood Park or MLAC.
The regina silver foxes are attending this tournament
Maybe Lethbridge and Royals did not apply to be in the Med Hat tournament and wanted to play in Calgary?
Everyone is so fast to jump to conclusions here. Organize your own tournament if you want to see the teams you want
POE should breeze though their division. If they don't ... well, that would be baaad.
Wow - OHA got the stiff one again from the Hat. Looks bad on organizers. Might be the best team in the West based on results from the last two events.
@6:37...yes organize your own tournament does makes sense...this way you can put all the weak teams in your division like the organizing committee for the Med Hat Tournament did. The Rocky Mountain Tournament was created because the Flames didn't get accepted last year to the Med Hat tournament when they probably should have. Not sure why Airdrie continues to get accepted into Med Hat??? They were a terrible team last year and even worse this year...
The Flames are hosting the tournament, the Royals did not think that they had much of a team so they jumped at the RMC tourney in Calgary. The Bisons and the Northstars wanted to see who was going to be in the RMC tourney and spoke with the WHL organizations and they were told that most of the scouts were headed to the Hat. So the Royals and Flames had already opted out.
Should probably get your facts straight brfore you bash the top tournament in Western Canada OHA jumped on spot in Calgary because they hadn't heard they were in MH yet. I guess the true gauge will be let's see where the scouts are!
The Royals are average this year and the Northeast and Bisons are stronger. Med hat traditionally only takes 2 Calgary teams. The Royals are a solid team but nothing really special. Thats the way it is. Lethbridge may be stronger than Airdrie but its really a coin toss and again they only take one rural south team. Royals have been there the last couple of years but this year they are not as strong as in the past. This tournament is loaded with scouts and they want to see the top teams. Every year it is different and I'm sure some mistakes are made when selecting the teams...its not exactly a science. Not to worry. Its a long year and all of the kids on every team will be evaluated numerous times by the scouts. If they are a strong player the scouts will find them.
i would not blame teams for leaving and wanting to go to calgary tourney.as seen here and in the past medicine hat puts them selves in a pool that lets them have a chance against weeker teams.most teams want to compare themselves against the best ,but mh just wants to look good lol,its one thing to beat weaker teams in the south like mh has been doing.
11:50 AM - your saying the Med Hat tournament is the only tournament you see where the host team ends up in the weaker pool?
It happens
Post a Comment