WEST Vancouver's Griffin Reinhart and Morgan Rielly helped Canada's under-18 men's national hockey team claim gold for the fourth year in a row at the prestigious Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament held Aug. 8-13 in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Canada defeated Sweden 4-1 in the tournament final, avenging a 5-1 loss to the Swedes on the tournament's opening day.
The tournament also featured under-18 national teams from the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Finland, Russia, Slovakia and the United States. The Canadian team rebounded well after losing their opening game.
"They never lost faith," said head coach Steve Spott in a Hockey Canada release. "We had to have a third line mentality as team. Chip pucks out and chip pucks in and win our battles and our best players and our most skilled players were willing to do that. We don't have a (Peter) Forsberg on our team but I can tell you right now we've got 22 kids that are committed to winning and they represent everything that Canadian hockey is all about."
Reinhart and Rielly, both defencemen, play in the Western Hockey League with Reinhart suiting up for the Edmonton Oil Kings and Rielly with the Moose Jaw Warriors.
North Vancouver racers took bronze in both the men's and women's B.C. Cup mountain bike race held earlier this month in Panorama, the final stop on the Canada Cup downhill series.
Danice Uyesugi claimed third in the women's race, flying down the course in 4: 05.38 to finish behind winner Lauren Rosser of Squamish who raced the course in 3: 51.67. Miranda Miller of Garibaldi Heights finished second.
On the men's side Ryan Vanderham finished third in a time of 3: 25.98, one second behind second-place finisher Matthew Beer of St. John's, N.L. Rob Fraser of Pickering, Ont., won the event with a time of 3: 24.60.
The Canada Cup National Cycling Series is the highest level of racing within Canada and a stepping stone for any riders looking to score international success.
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Two North Vancouver coaches were recently chosen to lead B.C. Hockey's under-16 provincial team into battle at the WHL Western Branch Challenge scheduled for Oct. 26-30 in Moose Jaw, Sask.
Adam Hayduk will act as head coach while Clint Thornton will be one assistant alongside Prince George's Brad Crossan. The tournament pits all-star teams from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba against each other.
Hayduk is the executive director of the Vancouver Thunderbird Minor Hockey Association and Thornton is a coach for the North West Giants in the B.C. Major Midget League. Both coaches work with the B.C. Hockey High Performance U16 and U17 Programs.
