St. Mike's Invitational Confirmed Teams

St. Mike's 49th Annual Invitational
January 8-11, 2009

Confirmed teams:
St. Mike's, Oakwood, Pickering, Eastern Commerce, Mother Teresa, Vaughan, Hamilton Cathedral, Northern, Pine Ridge, Denis Morris (St.Catharines), Holy Trinity (Oakville), Jean Vanier, Vaughan Road, Campion, Emery

Are they head-to-head with the Silver Fox again?

They are and Silver Fox may not be the best tournament that weekend let alone in the Province!

We'll see how it plays!

Vaughan Road has been added to the confirmed teams.

Campion and Emery are the two final teams added to the St. Mike's Invitational.

strong tourney.

whose the "wild card" team in this draw?

Where is Henry Carr?

The folks on thehoop-la.com board are going bonkers, trying to figure out the fate of the Silver Fox this season. Makes a thinking fan wonder what happened to shake things up so much.

Well it's official. This is THE tournament of the season. The Fox is rather lame but don't take my word for it, check it out yourself.
Too bad St. Mike's has gone with the 16 team format. Would they consider expanding to 24?
Looking at the Fox draw, there are many, MANY great teams with nothing to do that weekend.

The Fox has shot themselves in the foot they are the masters of their own demise! They were the BEST!!!!

When a team is perenially among the best in the Province with back-to-back-to-back trips to OFSSAA you do not uninvite them! When they are back-to-back Silver Fox Champions, c'mon now!

What in the world were they thinking? Now they are not even the best tournament on a weekend in January.

What do you mean "uninvite"?
Is it because the champs get an automatic spot without waiting for an official invitation? Did the Fox committee tell MT not to come?
Just wondering how it all came down cause it might explain alot.

People in the Hammer are freaking out over the terrible draw. There will always be a few weak teams and St. Mike's has a few but this year the Fox has only St. Thomas More Hamilton and Henry Carr out of 24 teams. The rest are crap.

Did we expect to be invited back? Of course!!!!

We were not invited back because we were rebuilding and THE Committee in its wisdom judged us too weak to compete.

Rebuilding with the best class ever to attend Mother Teresa: Ashton Khan, Mo Walker, Ancil Martin, Mookie Knott, etc., etc.

We made it to OFSSAA that season but the Silver Fox said we were too weak to compete.

We have been invited back but we now attend the St Michael's Tournament. Thank you very much!

Don't blame you. Your team is stacked and I'd never call that line up a rebuilding team. LOL
Same thing appears to be happening in Hamilton. There is plenty of politics at work there.
The director of the Fox coaches Saltfleet high school.
Two teams competing against them in the league are Orchard Park that were at the Rimrocker last year and Parkside that won the city championship from Saltfleet.
FYI, things got really ugly at the end of the championship game with Saltfleet players trying to attack Parkside athletes. Totally unsportmanlike and they were sore losers. Parkside a class act and walked away.
It's been suggested that the committee left out these two teams for spite and invited the worst league teams in the city instead.
Parkside went to the Raso flight final at last years Fox against Campion and lost by about 5. They lost some players but have juniors moving up that were city champ finalists so it's not really a rebuilding year.
Why not get invited back???? They are still favoured to win the city championship again this year.
Orchard Park is Saltfleet's competition in the city east division.
They fought it out hard in the city semi's last year against Saltfleet but had grade 9 and 10's playing senior. This year they are ready.
Why not invite them when they are far superior and have the players to compete?
Something is indeed not right. The disrespect to former champs MT as well as ignoring the accomplishments of the best local Hamilton teams in favour of basement dwellers in the league lead me to question the integrity of the committee. It's unfortunate that such huge screwups should put such a negative on this once great tournament.

I just confirmed we at West Hill will also be taking part in the Tournament at St. Mike's...

Obviously with a line-up this competitive there was no way we couldn't be a part of it!

Absolutely it should be one of the top Tournaments in the Province without a doubt. With many of the Top flights team in Toronto/Ontario taking part it's hard to argue this won't be THE tourney for years to come...

On another note, it's disappointing to hear stories like the ones mentioned by Rec and Coach Clement, but fortunately life goes on and new legacies are established right!!

St. Mike's organizers should capitalize on all this.
This is the perfect opportunity to facilitate change. Take the great teams now at the tournament and bring it up to a 24 team draw format, if not this year, consider it for the future. I think there will now be a geat number of teams that will consider St. Mike's first and foremost before the Fox.

Unfortunately, the Fox committee have just alienated many more teams and their coaches. This disrespect shown to MT over the last few years has been passed on to many other traditional particpants and they will unlikely want to continue the relationship with the Fox.
It has been reported here that the St. Mike's tournament is well run and a pleasure to be in. Let's see if we can salvage some of the dignity of many successful, hard working players and coaches that have to deal with the humility of not being considered worthy of an invitation.
I have spoken to one coach who's team was in it last year but not invited back. They are a very good team. He's mortified that he and his boys were passed over for perpetual "celler dweller" teams.

There are lots of hard feelings out there so St. Mike's committe....take advantage and bring your tournament to new heights.

First thing first. I have known Mr. Weatherbee for over 20 years and I can say that he has always and will always have the best intentions when it comes to Hamilton Basketball and the Silver Fox.

[i]Don't blame you. Your team is stacked and I'd never call that line up a rebuilding team.[/i]

Mr. Weatherbee has stated that not inviting MT back was a mistake. He has written about it on blogs and even stated on air with David Grossman that he was sorry. They have since changed the rules, giving an automatic invite to the defending champion.

[i]The director of the Fox coaches Saltfleet high school.[/i]
Has nothing to do with Saltfleet being in the Fox and other teams not. The Fox has always given an automatic entry to teams hosting the opening games. Whether that is right or not is up for another debate.

[i]Two teams competing against them in the league are [b]Orchard Park[/b] that were at the Rimrocker last year and [b]Parkside[/b] that won the city championship from Saltfleet.[/i]

Agreed, they are two of Hamilton's best public teams. Orchard Park is loaded with talent, but coaching is a definate weak point for that team. Orchard Park did not perform well at any major tournament last year. I believe Carr beat them in the Rimrocker tournament last year by 60+. Again, lots of talent that has yet to prove itself at the senior level.

Parkside did lose 4 out of 5 starters, but with a strong group of juniors moving up they still will be a strong team.

Why they are not in......I don't know? None of us do. Until a coach from either team tells us why anything is purely hearsay.

[i]FYI, things got really ugly at the end of the championship game with Saltfleet players trying to attack Parkside athletes. Totally unsportmanlike and they were sore losers.[/i]

I was a spectator at the game and 1 player from Saltfleet got carried away after the game. His actions were truly unsportsmanlike, but his actions do not reflect the majority of players on that team.

[i]It's been suggested that the committee left out these two teams for spite and invited the worst league teams in the city instead.[/i]

False. Cathedral, as far as anyone knows, was the only team Hamilton who declined an invite. From my point of view, not a big loss. STM, Brebuef, ACMT and BT are just as strong as Cathedral this year.

As for Ancaster and St. Mary's making the tournament. A complete shock to me. These 2 teams are the weakest teams that received an invite from Hamilton. Glendale, gets the automatic invite due to hosting. (again a topic for another discussion)

About 10 years ago a similar scenario happened where the Fox was not dominated by all the major programs from Toronto. I believe some of the better teams at that time competing were from Guelph (St. James), Belleville (Nicholson), Ottawa (St. Pats), Sarnia (St. Annes). The games were as competitive as ever and many players got a chance to show their talents. I believe Mike King was on the Guelph team and he turned out to be an excellent player.

My point being teams and tournaments have always run in cycles. Lets not bury the Fox just yet. Only time will tell.

There are cycles, I agree. But this isn't a cycle. Threre are too many "mistakes" this year.
There are too many coincidences involving the uninvited teams.
OP's senior team coach is different this year so why hold last years coaching against the players. Those players are worthy of an invitation.

The fact that teams with the same coaches, year after year, and are likely friends of the committee get the invitation even if they cannot field a competitive team is absolutely unacceptable.
Is this a private party for the friends of the committee or is this tournament to demonstrate the best players and teams possible??
Cronyism at it's best....of course...with the political election next week, it all fits, doesn't it?

The fact that teams with the same coaches, year after year, and are likely friends of the committee get the invitation even if they cannot field a competitive team is absolutely unacceptable.

Funny you should mention that since it was the non -invitation to MT, who was a mainstay at the tournament, that started all the fuss.

This years teams at the Fox are relatively new to the tournament. (which seems to be the problem......who in the world are some of these teams) The longstanding Toronto teams are the ones that have left to go to St. Mikes.

As for the comparison with politics......I don't think anyone is accusing the Fox of lying or sleeping with prosititutes.

I still can not believe the disrespect the organizers of this tournament showed to MT. I used to travel from Toronto to watch this tournament. Never again. You good old Hamilton boys definetely shot yourselves in the foot. Maybe now with all the Toronto teams out a Hamilton team can finally win the tournament but that is unlikely since Henry Carr is there. No disrepect to the Hamilton teams because there are several strong teams there but it is much easier draw for them now. Don't you find it strange that Carr is now in the Fox and other Toronto teams are out.

Nothing strange really. We decided to commit to the Silver Fox last March. I guess the other teams also wanted to make a change.

Coach Melnik

MT has valid reasons for not attending the Fox.
Cathedral has made it public knowledge that they are unsatisfied with the tournament and whatever the reasons, they likely won't return anytime soon.
Any Hamilton teams left that will provide competition is St. Thomas More. The Fox committee also did not invite any other possible contenders from Hamilton for the other flight championships. Those teams deserved to be there and play in front of their home crowds and compete with each other. Instead much weaker out of town teams will be there and they will draw flies to the gym.
I predict and MT/STM final as long as the Fox committee don't screw up the rankings so that these two teams meet in the quarters.

Did you mean Carr/STM final?

MT will not be there as you said.

LOL
Yeah, that's what I meant.
Carr/STM final is my prediction.