Playing as under-ager for AAA Stars helped Reid make U-16 team

“My game is … moving up with the rush, trying to create offence,” he said.

Reid wasn’t one of those kids put on skates as soon as he could walk. He picked up the game of hockey at six years old and fell in love right away.

“As soon as I started, I knew it was the sport for me,” he said.

After working his way up through the minor hockey ranks in Warman, Reid decided to move to the Battlefords to play with the AAA Stars a year earlier than most, as a 14-year-old. Most at that age decide to play a second year of bantam hockey, but Reid wanted to make the jump.

And he didn’t look out of place last year, scoring 15 points in 43 games.

The move to play a year up first paid off this past April, just after the season had ended, when Reid impressed the coaching staff at the SaskFirst tournament. He received an invitation to Saskatchewan Hockey’s U-16 summer camp, along with 41 others.

He was halfway to making the final team.

On May 5, before he went to that summer camp, he received more good news: the Victoria Royals of the WHL used their second round pick to select Reid in the 2016 bantam draft.

With that confidence, Reid excelled at the U-16 summer camp, which was only stage three in the four-part process that began in April. The final stage was fall camp, held a few weeks ago with 26 players, including Stars teammate Adam Beckman.

Beckman was one of the final cuts, but Reid made the team.

Staff from the Saskatchewan Hockey Association (SHA) told North Stars head coach Jean Fauchon Reid’s confidence stood out to them.

“They said that’s one thing that they noticed – that he was confident out there being that he had played in the AAA league [last season],” Fauchon said. “He showed that kind of poise out there with the puck and was able to make things happen.”

Reid wasn’t nervous waiting for the final roster announcement, which he got via text from his mom while in class at JP II.

“[You’ve] just got to go on with your day as if it’s any other day,” he said. “You can’t really worry about it.”

This fall, not only did Reid attend a U-16 provincial camp, he also attended Victoria Royals camp, playing with teenagers three, four, and sometimes five years older.

“It showed you how good they are and how good you have to be to make the team,” Reid said.

Reid knew he was coming back to the Stars as a 15-year-old, but he didn’t treat the WHL camp differently just because he’s younger.

“If you ever go into a camp, you’re trying to make the team, doesn’t matter if it’s NHL or peewee,” he said. “I’m [always] just trying to do the best I can.”

The Royals haven’t signed him yet, but there’s a chance that happens at next year’s camp, when Reid will have another year of AAA midget hockey under his belt.

But none of that matters for Reid right now.

Right now it’s about the AAA Stars, who have struggled out of the gate, with a 1-2-0 record.

“We need to come together as a group more. Sacrifice for each other more,” Reid said. “[You] can’t try to do it all yourself. You’ve got to use your teammates. Just trust your guys more than anything.”

The AAA Stars have several days off before they hit the ice at the Civic Centre on October 15 against the Moose Jaw Generals.

Reid will depart for the U-16 Challenge Cup on October 17, meaning he’ll miss Stars games on October 19, 22, and 23.

Nathan Kanter is battlefordsNOW’s sports reporter and voice of the Battlefords North Stars. He can be reached at Nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca or tweet him @NathanKanter11

by Nathan Kanter

Playing as under-ager for AAA Stars helped Reid make U-16 team

What's Trending