From the hunters to the hunted.Last season, with a core group of grade twelve players, the St. Benedict Saints enjoyed a breakout season that culminated with that group's first District 8 Championship in four tries against the St. Mary's Eagles.
With that mountain now climbed, the Saints have their sights set on bigger goals, and early returns so far this season suggest that St. Benedict may not be a threat locally, but also on the provincial stage as well.
You see, the Saints return almost their entire scoring offense from a season ago --- Zubair Seyed, Justin Malnerich, Evan Rodenburg, Alex Douglas, Lucas Cardoso and Devante Douse --- are all back for a 5th year at St. Benedict.
It looks as though SBCSS is handling their new status as the "hunted" quite well. This past weekend, at the Holy Trinity Tip-Off, the Saints soundly defeated two GTA teams that were ranked in the GTA's top 10 per HooptownGTA.com; they defeated #10 Brampton Notre Dame 72-34 in pool play, and #4 Brampton Centennial 63-44 in the championship final.
Zubair Seyed was named as the tournament MVP, while SG Justin Malnerich (25 points in the final) was an all-star.
It would appear as though the Saints are a strong contender this weekend at the 33rd annual Heinbuch Classic, which (as many of you know) is named in honour of former Cameron Heights CI coach (from 1969-1985) Court Heinbuch. Heinbuch led the Gaels to the 1983 OFSAA championship, but passed away two years later as a result of a sudden heart attack. The tournament lives on in his honour.
St. Benedict is one of six Waterloo Region teams in the field of 16 who are seeking to become Waterloo Region's first-ever Heinbuch champion. They include Resurrection, WCI, SJAM, Cameron Heights, and Eastwood.
Two CWOSSA schools have previously won the title, St. James (1998) and Brantford Assumption (1999).
I'll give my predictions for CWOSSA teams below, but here's a quick recap of the opening round draw tomorrow (all games @ Conestoga College). The tourney tips off with two CWOSSA match-ups at 8:45am and 9am respectively:
Top Half of Draw
8:45am - Resurrection vs. Eastwood
10:15am - SJAM vs. Cardinal Newman
11:45am - Cameron Hts. vs. Oakwood
1:30pm - J. Clarke Richardson vs. Collingwood
Lower Half of Draw
9:00am - St. Benedict vs. North Park
10:30am - WCI vs. St. Thomas More (Hamilton)
Noon - St. Roch (Brampton) vs. Sarnia Northern
1:30pm - MacNab (Hamilton) vs. Adam Scott (P'Boro)
CWOSSA Teams / Predictions
Cameron Heights CI / Kitchener
Good news and bad news. The good news? CHCI volleyball made OFSAA. The bad news? That tournament is this weekend.
As a result, the Gaels will be missing a couple of key players (most notably G Jake Dekker) just like they did last weekend when CHCI went 1-3 at the Resurrection Round Robin. My understanding is that Lala Shehi also suffered an arm injury last weekend, so I'm not sure of his availability this weekend.
Raghu Podipreddy and Josh Drew will be expected to shoulder a bit more of the offensive load this weekend.
Predictions
Round 1: L to Oakwood
Round 2: L to Collingwood
Consolation Rd. Semis: L to SJAM
Eastwood CI / Waterloo
Despite a couple of key losses from last year's team, the Rebels appear poised to make a run in WCSSAA -- and possibly this tournament.
Cham Ujullu (Humber College) is no longer with the team, but among their key returnees is are Hanani Ujullu and PG Layee Jabateh, who played up with the senior squad last year as a grade ten.
It's hard for me to officially give my thoughts on ECI, as I haven't received official confirmation on their St. Mary's transfers, notably Tyreak Farquharson and Kanayo Nnadi. Former GRCI guard Abdei Hamad is also at ECI this season. Should any/all receive clearance to play this season (they may have already, I'm just not aware of it), that's a huge coup for the Rebels.
Predictions:
Round 1: L to Resurrection
Round 2: W vs. SJAM
Bronze Semis: W vs. Collingwood
Bronze Championship: W vs. St. Thomas More
North Park CVI / Brantford
The Trojans are certainly the class of Brantford, as evidenced by their dominance this past weekend at the Ed O'Leary Tip-Off tournament.
NPC took care of city rivals Assumption (53-33) and St. John's (55-36) to capture the tournament title. Rookie Ethan Andrew appears to have made a seamless transition to the senior ranks, while 6'8" Erik Nurse also played well this past weekend.
The scary thing is that the majority of the Trojan roster is grade eleven, so expect this group to continue to gel and develop as the season progresses.
Predictions:
Round 1: L to St. Benedict
Round 2: L to St. Thomas More
Cons. Semis: W vs. Adam Scott
Cons. Final: L vs. SJAM
Resurrection CSS / Kitchener
Rez is back at the Heinbuch for the first time in a handful of years, and they do have a strong core of returning players.
G/F Muyang Iluya certainly impressed at the RCSS Round Robin, while PG Ali Rashid has also put up some nice numbers in the early going. Both have assumed the scoring load left by graduated guard Korbil Gany (UWaterloo/CIS).
F Demar Holness and G/F Jamu Iluya bolster a very athletic Phoenix line-up that doesn't have a ton of size, due in part to the departure of 6'9" Jordan Kenning (3Kings Prep/Windsor).
However, transfer Eddie Omari appears to be a huge boost to the Rez lineup. Omari, who previously played at Kitchener St. Mary's, has moved back to Kitchener after he was in Thunder Bay for the past couple of seasons, playing with the St. Ignatius team that qualified for "AA" OFSAA. He's working his way back into the lineup after an early-season injury, but should be a full go this weekend.
If the Phoenix can get past Eastwood in the opening round, they would have a date with one of my tournament favourites, Cardinal Newman (Hamilton) in round two.
Predictions
Round 1: W vs. Eastwood
Round 2: L vs. Cardinal Newman
Silver Semi: W vs. JC Richardson
Silver Final: L vs. WCI
SJAM / Waterloo
No more "big three", but things aren't that bleak for an SJAM squad that boasts many newcomers from a junior team that captured the previous two CWOSSA titles (save for Dragan Stajic, who opted to go the prep route).
Losing Nedim Hodzic, Justin Hardy and Simon Petrov (all going to Waterloo/CIS) means that there's a lot of offensive shoes to fill, but early returns suggest that returnee Jordan Iwaniuk and shooter Nino Spasik are well equipped to do their part.
Predictions
Round 1: L vs. Cardinal Newman
Round 2: L vs. Eastwood
Cons. Semis: W vs. Cameron Hts.
Cons. Final: W vs. North Park
St. Benedict / Cambridge
I've given a bit of a breakdown of the Saints' roster above, so I'll just get right to the predictions with them.
Predictions
Round 1: W vs. North Park
Round 2: W vs. WCI
Gold Semis: W vs. St. Roch
Championship Final: W vs. Cardinal Newman
WCI / Waterloo
Another veteran-laden club, the Vikes have a handful of 5th year returnees, including Adam Piazza and Aaron Grubb. On paper, they would appear to be one of the WCSSAA favourites and should be able to pick up some wins this weekend, despite a tough draw.
Predictions
Round 1: W vs. St. Thomas More
Round 2: L vs. St. Benedict
Silver Semis: W vs. MacNab
Silver Final: W vs. Resurrection
Overall Commentary
Yes, I picked a CWOSSA team to win each division at the Heinbuch tournament this year -- including a Waterloo Region champion for the first time! Given how some of the traditional favourites (Oakwood, JC Richardson) have struggled in the early going, it certainly appears possible that a local team -- most likely St. Benedict -- can take home the title.
I'm expecting Cardinal Newman to put up a good run this weekend, with their outstanding guard Maliek Gordon (Heinbuch All-Star last year) back in the fold. The Cards have already posted some solid wins (including GTA #9 D'Youville). It would appear as though CN and SBCSS are on a collision course to meet in the final.
Of course, there's always some upsets and things that don't necessarily go as expected. This year certainly seems to be a bit more "wide open" than in years' previous, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Good luck to all teams!
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