It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
The Edge School for Athletes hosted the fifth annual World Sport Challenge hockey tournament over the course of four days and has slowly worked its way into the public conscience as a Christmas-time staple.
“The tournament originally started when the World Juniors were in Calgary and Edmonton in 2011,” said Kevin Bathurst, WSSC tournament organizer and Edge Midget Varsity hockey coach Kevin Bathurst.
The 18-team tournament has two divisions, the Elite 15-year-olds and the prep category for boys between 15 to 18-years-old.
“We’ve grown the pool from the ten to twelve teams in the first year to our present state,” Bathurst said.
“This year we have teams from all over Alberta, Idaho, British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario, so it’s a wide variety.
“The Elite 15s is basically like Alberta Minor Midget Hockey League standards in terms of age group and quality, and the prep division is like Alberta AAA Midget Hockey League in terms of calibre.”
Even though the Edge has hosted the tournament since its inception in 2011 (minus 2012), other schools are able to apply for hosting rights.
“I hope it stays in Calgary,” Bathurst said. “It’s great for our school and for hockey in the city.”
Originally, the event ran concurrently with the Mac’s AAA Midget Hockey Tournament, but this year, the tournament was moved up two weeks to give the kids a solid Christmas break away from academics and athletics.
Over the years, the tournament has hosted numerous prestigious teams such as Team Germany under-16s and famous American school Shattuck-St. Mary’s Sabres who won the first three tournaments (prep division) on the trot and count NHL superstars such as Sydney Crosby and Jonathan Toews among their alumni.
Not only does the tournament attract top talent, but scouts from numerous hockey leagues such as the Western Hockey League (WHL) and the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL).
“I don’t think there’s an event of this level and calibre that provides scouts with the opportunity to see so many prospects at once in the same building,” Bathurst said. “I’ve seen scouts from over three-quarters of the AJHL teams, and Boston College was here the other day. You can always anticipate that there will be a heavy scout presence throughout the tournament.”
How have Edge teams performed over the years?
“None of our teams have ever won the competition,” Bathurst said.
“Last year St. Andrew’s College out of Ontario won, and before that it was Shattuck.”
Are most of the teams who take part in the tournament school based teams such as Edge?
“Yes,” Bathurst confirmed.
“A lot of them are Canadian Sports School Hockey League members, there were also community based teams this year like Northwest Bruins and Lloydminster Rage so we also have a club-based environment.”
This year’s tournament was dominated by the Delta Hockey Academy who took home gold in both divisions (beating BWC Hockey Academy 4-2 in the prep final and Edge 2-1 in the Elite 15s).
Three Cochranites were part of the Edge teams who competed (goalie Ben Laidlaw and forward/defenceman Nolan Spadafore for Preps, defenceman Tanner Sawka for the Elite 15s).
Spadafore recorded three goals and one assist in four games. Laidlaw racked up a 3.00 GAA in two games played saving 35 out of 41 shots, while Sawka nabbed a goal and an assist in six games as his team made a run to the final.
Where does the Edge plan on taking this event in the future?
“Well, this year we had eighteen teams, playing forty games in four days, which is the capacity we can hold in our facility over a period like this,” Bathurst said.
“We could have more teams, the demand is certainly there because we turned away a couple applicants.
“It will always be interesting to see how much further we could go. We’re looking to increase the diversity of the teams in each division, which will provide teams with different competition from what they see in traditional league play.”
