The Cloverdale Colts bantam AAA team trotted home with the championship banner from the prestigious John Reid Memorial hockey tourney in St. Albert, Alberta last weekend.

Facing off against the top bantam teams in Western Canada, the Colts put together a record of 6-0 capped by a 5-1 win over the Semiahmoo Ravens in the championship final.

"For anyone who knows bantam hockey, that tournament is the cat's (bum)," said Colts co-coach Bill MacGillivray. "It's the biggest thing going this side of the Manitoba border. We went in there thinking it would be a good team-building tournament, a chance for our guys to start feeling good about our team. Winning is obviously a good thing but it wasn't our main goal at the start; we just wanted to see how we competed against really good teams."

The Colts got off to a flying start when they upended California's L.A. Selects, a pre-tournament favourite, 7-4 in the opening game for both teams.

"Everybody told us when we got there that they were one of the best teams in the tournament," MacGillivray said. "As coaches we knew we were capable of beating anyone there but for the players, as soon as they got that first win, they realized they had a good chance of winning the whole thing."

The Colts sidestepped Notre Dame (Saskatchewan) 7-5 in their next outing before clinching top spot in their pool with a 5-3 win over host St. Albert.

When the playoffs began, the Colts pulled a rabbit out of their hat against Sherwood Park (Alberta) by scoring three times in the final seven minutes of the third period to steal a 5-4 win.

The semifinal round was an allB.C. affair as Semiahmoo eliminated Pursuit of Excellence (Kelowna) while Cloverdale took on powerhouse Burnaby Winter Club.

Cloverdale weathered an early Burnaby storm to escape the first period tied 0-0. The Colts opened the scoring on a second period power play and added two more before allowing a late goal to win 3-1.

In the final against cross-town Surrey rival Semiahmoo, the Colts started slowly and fell behind 1-0 but the game turned on a six-minute Semiahmoo power play late in the opening frame.

Colts kept the Ravens off the score sheet and bagged a pair of short-handed goals for good measure to emerge with the lead. Cloverdale then added three more goals to skate away with the championship banner 5-1.

"This is the fourth tournament we've won and the kids just keep getting better," MacGillivray said. "It seems kind of odd to have this much success and as coaches, we realize how special it is. I don't think the kids realize how special it is with all these finals they're playing in. It's pretty impressive how they keep winning all these big games."

Tyler Soy powered the Colts with two goals and three helpers. Soy was honoured as the tournament MVP and was named the top forward.

Chris Seto and Jakob Stukel also sparked the Cloverdale attack in Alberta while goaltender Kyle Cheema and defenceman Parker Wotherspoon were named to the tournament all-star team.

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