Review: 14th Annual Carl Gordaneer Memorial Christmas Select Tournament

January 27, 2012
Posted in Ontario Edition, Minor, Tournament Results

BY ANDREW SNOOK /

Ten teams took home bragging rights at the 14th annual Carl Gordaneer Memorial Christmas Select Tournament, held from Dec. 26 to 31 at The Mastercard Centre for Hockey Excellence in Toronto.

Teams from across the Greater Toronto Area competed in 10 different divisions, including: Tyke (2005-06), Minor Novice (2004), Novice (2003), Minor Atom (2002), Atom (2001), Minor Peewee (2000), Peewee (1999), Minor Bantam (1998), Bantam (1997) and Minor Midget (1996).

The tournament was run by Faustina Sports Club, which was celebrating its 76th anniversary.

Don LeGree, tournament chair, said the tournament attracted big crowds, who cheered hard for their favourite teams.

“We had a total of 80 games over 6 days, there was quite a buzz throughout the whole tournament,” he said.

The winning teams were as follows:

• Tyke Division – Credit Valley (Gold), Faustina (Silver), Queensway (Bronze) and Georgebell (fourth place)
• Minor Novice – Duffield (Gold), Faustina (Silver), Clarkson (Bronze) and Port Credit (fourth place)
• Novice – Faustina (Gold), Oakville (Silver), Don Mills (Bronze) and Downsview (fourth place).
• Minor Atom – Oakville Devils (Gold), Oakville Crush (Silver), Faustina (Bronze) and West Mall (fourth place).
• Atom – Oakville (Gold), Brampton (Silver), Faustina (Bronze) and Weston (fourth place).
• Minor Peewee – Faustina (Gold), West Mall (Silver), West Hill (Bronze) and Scarborough (fourth place).
• Peewee – Weston (Gold), Applewood (Silver), Queensway (Bronze) and Faustina (fourth place).
• Minor Bantam – Oakville (Gold), Whitby (Silver), Weston (Bronze) and Faustina (fourth place).
• Bantam – Applewood (Gold), Brampton (Silver), Queensway (Bronze) and Humber Valley (fourth place).
• Minor Midget – Credit Valley (Gold), Brampton (Silver), Downsview (Bronze) and Faustina (fourth place).

LeGree said naming one particular player as a stand-out player would extremely difficult.

“That would be tough for me to say, I watch just about every game and every team had stand out players. It was a well-behaved tournament by all the teams.”

Several players who played at Faustina tournaments have gone on to play at the NCAA level, or even be drafted in the NHL, including NHL 2007 first-round draft pick Brendan Smith (Detroit Red Wings), NHL 2009 third-round draft pick Reilly Smith (Dallas Stars), Derek Foam (Tulsa Oilers CHL / NCAA Niagara University) and Steven Janes (Ottawa 67’s).

For more information on the tournament, visit www.faustiansportsclub.com

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