Gardiner, Canada, Take Bronze at Youth Olympics

Prince Albert Raiders prospect Reid Gardiner won a bronze medal with Team Canada at the Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. Gardiner scored a goal and 4 assists in a 7-5 victory over the USA to earn third place. The current Saskatoon Contact led Canada with 8 assists and 12 points in 6 games. He also finished third in team plus/minus and shots on goal, with a plus 9 rating and 17 shots.

Canada finished the round robin in second place, only 1 point behind the Russians, while giving up the least amount of goals against in the tournament, allowing only 7 in 4 games.

The Raiders selected Gardiner 8^th overall in last season’s WHL Bantam draft after scoring 50 goals and 31 assists in only 24 games with the bantam Humboldt Broncos of the Centre Four Hockey League. The Humboldt, Saskatchewan native, is having a strong season for the Saskatoon Contacts, who are currently in 1^st place in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League, with Gardiner notching 15 goals and 17 assists in 28 games.