Bantam AAA tournament begins today

There will be plenty up for stake at arenas across the city tonight.

The puck drops on the 45th annual Hockey Hounds Major Bantam Tournament at 5 p.m. with players from 16 different teams all vying for the storied title with scouts from teams across the Western Hockey League watching from the stands.

The South East Athletic Club Tigers will make their debut in tonight’s 8:30 p.m. matchup against the reigning champion Pursuit of Excellence at the Kinplex in one of eight games on the docket.

The tournament officially gets under way at 5 p.m. with Swift Current taking on Delta Academy at the Hockey Hounds Arena, Grand Peace facing off against the Calgary Edge at the Moose Recreation Centre and Edmonton’s South Side Athletic Club hitting the ice against Spruce Grove at Kinplex 2. Balgonie and Sherwood Park round out the early games at 5:30 p.m. in the Kinplex 1.

The action continues at 8 p.m. with West Central and St. George’s at the Hockey Hounds, Prince Albert against Lloydminster at the Moose and Fort Saskatchewan versus the Edmonton Knights of Columbus at the Kinplex 2.

Group play carries on with games from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday, after which the top teams will face off in elimination play Saturday with the championship and consolation games scheduled for Sunday. The final is slated for 12:30 p.m. at the Kinplex 1.

The Medicine Hat Tigers have been dealt their fair share of adversity through the first quarter of the Western Hockey League season, but none of it seems to have knocked them off stride.

The team lost star forward Mason Shaw to a torn ACL in the pre-season and standout rookie Josh Williams to a broken collarbone earlier this month, but all they’ve done is win since the calendar turned to November.

“We’re feeling confident,” said Tigers defenceman David Quenneville, whose 13-6-0-0 Tigers hold a seven-point lead on the Central Division with two games in hand. “I think we’ve done a real good job of just battling. We’ve been in some tight games here lately and we’ve just found a way every night.”

The Tigers received a wakeup call at the end of October when the Moose Jaw Warriors and Swift Current Broncos handed them a pair of ugly losses on back-to-back nights, 9-1 and 4-0. Captain Mark Rassell says the team took the ensuing week off to focus on what went wrong before turning a new leaf with five consecutive victories and a No. 10 ranking in the Canadian Hockey League’s Top 10.

“Our D zone was gross those two games,” said Rassell. “We spent that whole week working in our defensive end. Something we pride ourselves on is our D zone, all of our offence, all of our rushes are started from a tight group in the D zone so that week off we had was huge.”

Rassell took over the role of captain after Shaw was moved to the injured reserve for the majority of the season, and Tigers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston says he provides a number of assets to the team.

“He’s an intelligent guy who’s got a real good feel for what’s going on in the room. He’s an upbeat player so he keeps the group positive. He’s meant a lot,” said Clouston. “Not only is he doing a great job with the leading and leadership of the team, but he’s got 20 goals already. That’s amazing.” Part of Medicine Hat’s earlyseason success has come through discipline. The Tigers have taken the least amount of penalty minutes in the league by a good margin. At 174 penalty minutes through their first 19 games, the Tigers have at least 37 fewer than any other team in the league.

“We stress discipline,” said Clouston. “I think a lot of nights the discipline has really helped us.”

Medicine Hat’s winning streak will be put to a stiff test Friday when the Broncos (13-41-0) make their first trip to the Canalta Centre this season. Swift Current’s top line of Tyler Steenbergen, Aleksi Heponiemi and Glenn Gawdin have been wreaking havoc on the league while helping the Broncos to a No. 6 ranking in the CHL’s top 10. The trio has combined for 137 points over 18 games while holding the top three spots in the WHL’s scoring race.

“They’re really good. Obviously I played with (Steenbergen) with Team WHL and he’s a fantastic player, then Heponiemi and Gawdin are two really good players,” said Quenneville. “I think the biggest thing with them is just being physical and eliminating time and space almost like any other good player, and obviously eliminating their high quality chances.”

The Tigers will look to exact some revenge while keeping their winning streak alive when the puck drops at 7:30 p.m.