The Airdrie Xtreme didn’t come back from St. Albert with a tournament title, but the Bantam AAA team played well and will look to continue the momentum through the end of the regular season.
The Xtreme lost 4-2 to the Burnaby Winter Club in the quarter-final of the John Reid Memorial tournament, Jan. 22, after going 2W-1L through the round-robin.
Defenceman Jake Dube was named as an all-star for the tournament, which featured 16 of the top teams in Western Canada and four teams from the U.S. in five different pools.
“We played well in the round-robin,” said Xtreme head coach Terry Keogh. “We won two and lost one, which put us second in our group and in the top eight of the tournament, then unfortunately we lost our quarter-final to Burnaby Winter Club, who ended up winning the bronze medal.”
The Xtreme lost its opening game 5-3 to Spruce Grove Saints on the morning of Jan. 20, before beating the Richmond Seafair Islanders 7-1 later that day.
“We had them where we wanted them twice, but we just let up a little bit and let them take the victory,” Keogh said of losing the opener.
“It puts more stress on the team as you can’t afford to let up after that.”
This set up an important match-up between Airdrie and the Notre Dame Hounds for second place in the pool and a continuation in the tournament’s A-side. Keogh said his team, which won 3-2, played its best game of the tournament.
“Notre Dame is one of the top-ranked teams in Western Canada,” he said. “But it was probably the best game we’ve played all season. We had contributions from everybody and I’m really proud of the way we played as a team.”
Airdrie then lost to Burnaby in the quarter-final round.
“They’ve got some really top-notch talent,” Keogh said. “We had some guys play really well, but we could have played better as a team in that one.”
Airdrie will now resume its Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League schedule with three games in four days this week.
They will visit the Okotoks Oilers on Jan. 27, before hosting the Grande Prairie Storm on Jan. 29 (7:15 p.m. at the Ron Ebbesen Arena) and the Calgary Bronks on Jan. 30 (1 p.m. at the Rob Ebbesen Arena).
“We didn’t see a team we couldn’t compete with in St. Albert, so there’s no concerns that way and we’ll just build on some of the positives we had in the tournament and try and get on a good roll,” Keogh said.
“We’ve got some players that are bumped and bruised a little bit, and it is a lot of hockey, but the way we’re playing, and with the positives we saw, we can continue to build on those with the three games this week.”
