Since its inception in 1959 this Tournament has been sponsored by the Royal Canadian Legion Branch, 255 Riverside, and our own Ladies' Auxiliary, now called the Riverside Community Ladies' Club for Youth.
In the early years the competition consisted of 20 teams playing over two days. It was a you play who came affair with A teams playing AAA teams and C teams playing AA. There was little concern with performance ratings. If a coach felt his team was good enough to win, then you played all comers. As word spread and teams began coming from farther and farther away, the tournament was changed to 3 days, Dec. 26, 27 and 28 in order to allow teams to spend Christmas at home, before leaving for the tournament. The format was also changed to three divisions A, B, C so that completely unknown teams could be more fairly placed. In 1989 Kalvesta, a AA team from Sweden, was our first European team. This occurred as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations. The format was changed to 4 days in order to allow European teams time to travel.
Since then teams from the United States, Great Britain, Sweden, Hungary (our first Eastern European team) along with teams from the Republic of Slovakia the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Russia and Latvia have competed in our prestigious tournament.
In September of each hockey season the wheels are set into motion, gearing up for the tournament that takes place at Christmas time.
The Ladies Club begins ordering, preparing and freezing some of the $8,000.00 worth of food, which the players and coaches will eat free of charge, a tradition which dates back to the competition's inception.
The Tournament has three other cherished traditions: the Guy Morgan Award, the Art McKenzie Award and the Randy Schuchard Memorial Award each commissioned to honour great men, one a skilled player, the other two fine coaches.
We estimate that sometime during this year's tournament the fourteen thousandth player will step on the ice to compete in this, Ontario's oldest Bantam Tournament.
AWARDS
This award honors Art McKenzie, the first RMHA Bantam Travel Coach. Art began coaching in Riverside in 1958, the year Riverside Arena first opened. In 1959 his team won the first Bantam Tournament. His teams won again in 1961 and 1966. Art, who coached Bantam hockey in Riverside for nine years passed away in 1991.
This award recognizes the coach who best exemplifies excellent coaching ability, fair play and sportsmanship during the tournament and remains on permanent display in our facilities.
AWARD RECIPIENTS
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1991: Kevin McIntosh - Windsor Club 240 1992 Don Moorhouse - St. Louis Blues 1993 christser Gustavsson - Osteraker, Sweden 1994 Gary Tockman - St. Louis blues 1995 Al Cormier - Riverside Rangers 1996 Bob Sylva - Tecumseh Eagles 1997 Barry Tapak - Tecumseh Eagles 1998 Tony Piroski- Essex Ravens 1999 Lou Rassey - Michigan Juguars 2000 Greg Filiatrault - Lasalle Sabres
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2001 Shawn Zimmerman - Muskegon Chiefs 2002 Warron Rost - England 2003 Jeff Battiston - Belle River Rink Rats 2004 Rob Shaw - Tecumseh Eagles 2005 Bill Mann - Canton Crush 2006 - Dave Jarvie - Mt. Clemens Wolves 2007 John Kahler - Canton Crush 2008 Rick Rewiako - Chicago Firewagon Yellowjackets 2009 Chris Ziriada - Riverside Rangers 2010 - Bob Labute - Tecumseh Eagles 2011 Steve Glover - Summit |
Randy Schuchard Memorial Award
Beginning in 2003, this award is presented to the Most Valuable Goaltender in each division.
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2003: Bantam Minor - Joseph Pare (Windsor Jr. Spitfires) Bantam Major - Devin Sutton ( AFI Thunder) Midget Minor - Tom Lanoue (Belle River Rink Rats)
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2008: Bantam Minor - Justin Mancuso (Tecumseh Eagles) Bantam Major - John Thibault (Michigan Travellers) Midget Minor - Mark Cleminson (Riverside Rangers)
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2004: Bantam Minor - Mitchell Charlebois (Riverside Rangerss) Bantam Major - Michael Ferrato ( Tecumseh Eagles) Midget Minor - Dan Mendonica (Belle River Rink Rats)
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2009: Bantam Minor - Corbin Kaczperski (Port Huron Flags) Bantam Major - Dalan Bulchak (Belle Tire) Midget Minor - Richard Poisson (Riverside Rangers)
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2005: Bantam Minor - Curtis Martinu (Belle River Rink Rats) Bantam Major - Alex Caruana (Allen Park Huskies) Midget Minor - Joey Rodorigo (Westland Jr. Wolves)
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2010:
Bantam Minor - Sean Stephens (Trenton) Bantam Major - Marcin Wypchowicz (Riverside) MIdget Minor - Sergiy Pysarenko |
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2006: Bantam Minor - Andrew Polkosnik (Riverside Rangers) Bantam Major - Alexandr Kuzmenko (Kazakhstan Torpedo) Midget Minor - James Stratton (Plymouth Stingrays)
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2011: Bantam Minor - James Charron (Windsor) Bantam Major - Jack Leavy (Birmingham) Midget Minor - Daniel Klinck (Windsor) |
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2007: Bantam Minor - Keith Ladouceur (Canton Crush) Bantam Major - Spencer Craig (Garden City Stars) Midget Minor - Kristers Gudlevskis (Latvia-Riga LB) |
GUY MORGAN MVP AWARD
This award was established to honour Guy Morgan who played Rep hockey in RMHA and who died in a tragic automobile accident in 1979 at the age of 21. Bill Hebert, a lifetime member of the Riverside Hockey Association and one of Guy's coaches, donated the trophy.
The award is presented to the player who best demonstrates ability, team leadership and good sportsmanship during the tournament. It is presented on the final day of the tournament and remains on permanent display in the RMHA home center.
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1980 Rob Mcgregor - Chatham, Ontario 1981 Tony Hockin - Flint Michigan 1982 Richie Smolen - Chicago Ilinois 1983 Mike Barton - Chinquacousy, Ontario 1984 Mike Pearson - Niagra Falls, Ontario 1985 Sylvain Poirier - Montreal Que 1986 Jamie Hooks - Kitchener, Ontario 1987 Tony Prpic - Cleveland (Winterhurst) 1988 Pete Cook - Welland Ontario 1989 Christer Karrison - Kalvesta, Sweden 1990 Ashley Tait - Great Britain 1991 Tim Findlay - Windsor Club 240 1992 Richard Grubb - Great Brittan 1993 David Crawford - Riverside Rangers 1994 Kevin Delaney - Lasalle Sabres 1995 Nik Antropov - Kazakstan 1996 Artie Phillips - Riverside Rangers 1997 Tim Spiewak - Michigan Hooters 1998 Patrick Turcotte - Seaway Valley Rapids 1999 Adam Filiatrault - Lasalle Sabres
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2000 Ron Shepley - Essex Ravens 2001 Joel Chittle - Tecumseh Chiefs 2002 Shawn Thompson - England 2003 Andrew Hurst - Belle River Rink Rats 2004 Richard Panik - Bratislava Slovakia 2005 Mitch Carpenter - Canton Crush 2006 Ily Novikov - Mosco North Stars 2007 Richard Kepitis - Latvia-Riga LB 2008 Chris Van Damme - Chicago Firewagon Yellowjackets 2009 Brett Siddall - Windsor Jr. Spitfires 2010 - Hunter Corp - Tecumseh Eagles 2011 Michael Long - Windsor
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OMHA Tournament Sanction #24738