The result wasn’t quite what he was hoping for.
However, despite Saskatchewan’s fourth place showing at the 2016 Western Canada U16 Challenge Cup in Calgary Sunday, the experience at the event is one Battlefords AAA Stars defenceman Luke Reid will remember for some time.
“We were pretty much treated like professionals as soon as we arrived in town,” Reid said.
“We had a really great team there with a lot of great leaders on the team. It was an awesome experience from start to finish.”
The 15-year-old from Warman suited up in all five games for Saskatchewan, with his lone point coming in a 4-3 round-robin loss to Alberta, when he assisted on a goal by Swift Current Broncos prospect Logan Barlage.
“There’s always things you want to improve on no matter how you play,” Reid said. “I was pretty happy with my defensive play and I was able to get into the offensive play a few times, but I really could have finished more of my shots, so that’s something I’ll be working on here going forward.
“I spent all of the tournament paired up with (Kelowna Rockets prospect) Kaedan Korczak and we ended up being a pretty good tandem. We’re both offensively minded players, so we each tried to get up in the rush and create things as much as we could.”
Saskatchewan finished 1-2 in round-robin play and earned a spot in Saturday’s semifinal, where they dropped a 2-1 decision to British Columbia.
They had a chance to come home with a bronze medal Sunday, but fell 4-1 to Manitoba to finish off the podium.
“There wasn’t a game all week where we weren’t in it right until the end,” Reid said. “We had some tough results though where the bounces didn't quite go our way.
“The players that are there are the best of the best from each region, so you have to be on your game at all times. Going up against guys like (Kootenay Ice prospect) Peyton Krebs and (Saskatoon Blades prospect) Kirby Dach was very exciting.”
The second round pick of the Victoria Royals in the 2016 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft says that he plans to use the lessons that he learned during the tournament over the rest of his hockey career.
“You just need to play your own game out there,” Reid said.
“You can’t try to do anything different than what has made you a good player to begin with. The most important thing is to keep doing things your own way.”
Reid will be rejoining the Stars Thursday night, as the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League team will begin a seven-game road trip by going up against the Saskatoon Contacts.
“It’ll be nice to have him back with us,” North Stars goaltender Lance Alm said. “He’s an offensive threat on the back end and he’s a huge part of our power play.
“We have several guys on our team that can find the back of the net and I think you’re going to see that over the next few games.”
Reid has an assist in four games for the Stars, who currently have a 3-4-0-1 record.
