The Rocky Mountain Raiders had a franchise first last weekend.
Rocky Mountain earned an invite to the vaunted John Reid Memorial Tournament for the first time in program history where it finished with a record of 1-3-1 against some of the top Bantam AAA programs in North America.
“Our record didn’t represent the results we were looking for,” said Raiders head coach Mickey Kluner. “It’s a tournament that mirrors how deep and how big the Mac’s Midget Tournament is for Bantam hockey and there are only good hockey teams there.”
The 38th annual John Reid Memorial Tournament in St. Albert is one of the most prestigious competitions at the Bantam level.
The 2016 event marked the first invite the Raiders have ever earned, due in part to the growing reputation of the team from the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League championship in 2014-15 to its improved tournament play in 2015-16.
“The tournament is invite-only so getting into it is almost a by-product of having success,” the coach added. “Last year with our championship team we weren’t accepted because we had a couple early struggles. Part of the criteria they look at is earlier tournaments.
“This year we had major success in a Calgary tournament in November (the Rocky Mountain Classic) which opened up St. Albert’s eyes for us to participate.”
Rocky Mountain, hosts of the 2016 Western Canadian Bantam AAA Championship in late March, dropped its opener 10-3 to the eventual silver medallist Delta and rebounded nicely in edging the Dallas Stats Elite by a 5-4 count. The Raiders then locked horns with Sherwood Park in what was a do-or-die game for both clubs in order to advance through to the playoff round and fell to the Flyers 5-2. The North Shore Winterhawks then doubled up Rocky Mountain 4-2 in a seesaw affair. The Raiders wrapped up tournament play in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Monarchs. Yale were the gold medal winners at the 16-team tournament.
“The word exposure comes up for the players to show them what top hockey teams look like and what we’re going to be up against in the next couple months especially at Westerns,” Kluner said. “The scouts, the attendance it’s a pretty cool thing for the kids to be around.
“Half the tournament is now hockey academies so it’s not a true representation of what Westerns will be like.”
Hassan Akl paced the Raiders with four goals and seven points and Tarun Fizer added three goals and six points in the tournament. The Raiders were without the services of team captain and league leading scorer Peyton Krebs, whose been sidelined for six weeks due to injury.
The highly-touted Okotokian is expected to return to game action in the next couple weeks.
“Like any team losing your top scorer and one of your better players is going to be a blow to the team and to the performance,” Kluner said. “Our team did everything they could step up and replace that. We’re looking forward to having him back.”
Rocky Mountain closes out the regular season in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League in a home-heavy schedule with five of its final eight contests, including its next four, at the Pason Centennial Arena. This weekend, the Raiders host Lethbridge on Jan. 23 at 3:45 p.m. and Red Deer on Jan. 24 at 4:15 p.m.
Go to ambhl.ab.ca for full schedules. For more information including ticket packages for the 2016 Western Canadian Bantam AAA Championship go to okotoksbantamchampionship2016.com
