Article By: Mark BrysonWATERLOO — Waterloo Collegiate’s success on the volleyball court has created a short-term problem for the Vikings senior boys basketball team.
The silver-medal finish at the all-Ontario championship on Saturday prevented two-sport standouts Jacob Ranton and Adam Anagnostopoulos from making the transition to basketball until Monday of this week. Normally, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but this is far from a normal year for a Vikings squad that is being touted as one of the teams to beat in Waterloo Region.
For the first time since 2005, the Vikings are one of the local entries in the Heinbuch Classic basketball tournament that opens Thursday and wraps up Saturday at St. Mary's High School and Huron Heights Secondary School. The St. Mary’s Eagles were also invited to make their third consecutive Heinbuch appearance, and will be joined by the Huron Heights Huskies, Galt Ghosts and Cameron Heights Golden Gaels in the 29th edition of the prestigious tournament.
“It is an honour to be invited to the Heinbuch and as one of the organizers of the tournament I have always held it in such high esteem and it’s also an honour to be viewed as one of the top four or five teams in the area,” said Vikings coach Craig Nickel.
The Vikings, who have yet to play an exhibition game, will get their first taste of action at the Heinbuch on Thursday night when they take on Shelburne’s Centre Dufferin Royals at Huron Heights. The Royals are coached by Patrick Kings, who enjoyed an illustrious career at Forest Heights as a player and is said to be excited about the prospects of bringing his lads to Kitchener.
“I do believe by the end of the year we have the chance to be as good as anybody, but we’re a little banged up right now. We didn’t get our volleyball guys back until this week and Jacob Ranton is still rehabbing from his ACL injury so he’s not anywhere near where he should be,” said Nickel.
“Centre Dufferin just won a tournament in Guelph and is battle-tested and we’re not nearly as prepared as we would like to be.”
That didn’t prevent the cwossabasketball.com website from predicting WCI would win its first two games and has the best chance of becoming the first Waterloo Region to ever win the tournament.
“The old kiss of death,” laughed Nickel.
All kidding aside, the Vikings look to have to the makings of a team that is capable of reaching the OFSAA boys quad-A basketball championship in March. All five starters are back from the team that reached the Waterloo County league’s semifinal round and only one key player – sixth man Alex Heap – was lost to graduation. The starting five of Ranton (forward), Anagnostopoulos (point guard), Malcolm Piazza (centre), Zach Totzke (guard) and Dani Elgadi (forward) are as good as it gets, while John McGowan (guard) and Nick Johnny (guard) will also see floor time and are expected to contribute.
Nickel is hopeful the Vikings can get a few competitive games in at the Heinbuch before starting their WCSSAA regular season on Tuesday against Huron Heights.
Toronto’s Oakwood Barons scored a 59-49 win over the Blessed Mother Teresa Titans of Scarborough in the 2011 Heinbuch final and both those teams are back this year and considered to be among the teams to watch. Oakville’s St. Ignatius of Loyola Hawks is also considered to be a serious contender along with Hamilton’s Cardinal Newman Cardinals.
The prestigious tournament is named in honour of Court Heinbuch, a former Cameron Heights Golden Gaels head coach who died of a heart attack on Feb. 12, 1985. Bluevale’s Roy Dahl and Preston’s Bill Hadley joined forces to get the tournament rolling, starting as an eight-team event from 1984 to 1987 before expanding to its current format in 1988.
Toronto Runnymeade has won the tournament six times, while Oakwood has won it three times. Hamilton Cathedral, Ajax Pickering and Scarborough Mother Teresa have won it twice.
The 29th annual Heinbuch Classic
The 16-team tournament will be played Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Huron Heights Secondary School and St. Mary’s High School.
Participating teams: Cameron Heights Golden Gaels, Hamilton Cardinal Newman Cardinals, Collingwood Fighting Owls, Shelburne Centre Dufferin Royals, Cambridge Galt Ghosts, Huron Heights Huskies, Ajax J. Clarke Richardson Storm, Scarborough Blessed Mother Teresa Titans, Brantford North Park Trojans, Toronto Oakwood Barons, Oakville St. Ignatius of Loyola Hawks, Kitchener St. Mary’s Eagles, Hamilton St. Mary’s Crusaders, Hamilton St. Thomas More Knights, Waterloo Vikings, Hamilton Westmount Wildcats.
Thursdays’ games (at Huron Heights): Galt vs. Mother Teresa, 3 p.m.; Cameron Heights vs. North Park, 4:30 p.m.; Loyola vs. Westmount, 6:15 p.m.; Waterloo vs. Centre Dufferin, 7:45 p.m.
Friday’s games (at St. Mary’s): St. Mary's vs. Cardinal Newman, noon; J. Clarke Richardson vs. St. Thomas More, 1:30 p.m. (At Huron Heights): Huron Heights vs. Oakwood, noon; St. Mary's (Hamilton) vs. Collingwood, 1:30 p.m.
Play continues at both schools on Friday, with Saturday’s four divisional finals beginning at 3:30 p.m. at Huron Heights. The gold division championship will be played at 8:15 p.m. There is no admission charge to any games.
Retrieved From: http://www.therecord.com/sports/highschool/article/844884--heinbuch-first-big-test-for-vikings
