Ottawa Schoolreach League
The Ottawa Schoolreach League is a set of regional qualifying tournaments that take place in late winter and spring. Teams play the Reach for the Top format, and compete for the Richard Mageau trophy, which is awarded to the team that finishes in first place at the final tournament. The top 3 finishing teams at the final tournament also qualify for the Ontario provincial championships in May.
Tournament Format
The league consists of two qualifying tournaments. Schools may only sumbit one team, and there is no intermediate (JV) division. In round 1, teams are divided into 3 flights of 6-8 teams each (depending on the number of schools competing that year). Within each flight, the teams play a complete round robin, with the top 2 teams in each flight moving on to the second qualifying tournament. In this tournament, the 6 qualified teams play a round robin. The top four teams play a semifinal round, with the first seeded team play the fourth seed, and second seed playing third. The victorious teams move to the final, where they compete for the Richard Mageau Trophy, and the losing teams compete for third place, and the right to join the finalists at the Ontario provincial tournament in May.
Teams
| School | Titles |
|---|---|
| A.Y. Jackson Blue Jays | 0 |
| Bell Bruins | 3 |
| Cairine Wilson Wildcats | 0 |
| Colonel By Cougars | 2 |
| Earl of March Lions | 0 |
| Gloucester Gators | 4 |
| Holy Trinity Tornadoes | 0 |
| John McRae Bulldogs | 0 |
| Lisgar Lords | 10 |
| Merivale Marauders | 3 |
| Mother Teresa Titans | 0 |
| Nepean Knights^ | 1 |
| Osgoode Township Panthers | 0 |
| Sacred Heart Huskies | 0 |
| Sir Wilfrid Laurier Lancers | 0 |
| St. Joseph Jaguars | 0 |
| St. Mark Lions | 0 |
| St. Patrick's Fighting Irish | 0 |
| St. Peter Knights | 0 |
| St. Paul Golden Bears^ | 0 |
| Woodroffe Tigers^ | 0 |
| Yitzhak Rabin | 0 |
^ = did not participate in 2006-07
Former Members
- Hillcrest
- Ridgemont
Past Champions
based on the plaques on the Mageau trophy
- 1992: Bell
- 1993: Ridgemont
- 1994: Bell +
- 1995: Bell (Lisgar) - see Lisgar and Bell articles for details on 1995 issues
- 1996: Nepean
- 1997: Gloucester
- 1998: Gloucester +
- 1999: Gloucester
- 2000: Gloucester ++
- 2001: Lisgar ++
- 2002: Merivale
- 2003: Merivale
- 2004: Lisgar
- 2005: Colonel By
- 2006: Lisgar
- 2007: Lisgar
- 2008: Lisgar + /Merivale (tie)(A)
- 2009: Lisgar/Merivale (tie)(B)
- 2010: Lisgar
- 2011: Lisgar
- 2012: Lisgar
- 2013: Merivale
- 2014: Colonel By
- 2015: Lisgar
+ won national title
++ defeated eventual national champion in Ottawa final
(A) Plaque was kept by Merivale for the year
(B) Plaque was kept by Lisgar for the year
2008 Tournament
Round 1
In 2008, a change in tournament format called for 8 teams to advance to Playoff Pool A. By the end of round 1, the traditional powerhouses of Bell, Gloucester, Merivale, Colonel By and Lisgar had advanced to the second round, with both Merivale and Lisgar finishing the day with 6-0 records. St. Mark and Mother Teresa provided the tournament surprises, also advancing to Playoff Pool A, along with Yitzhak Rabin, who made their second Pool A appearance in as many years.
Round 2
After a round robin, Lisgar finished with a 7-0 record, followed by Merivale at 6-1. Gloucester, using a team comprised completely of freshmen and sophomores (after losing all five members of their provincial 2nd place team), finished tied for third with Mother Teresa. With only 3 spots available for the Ontario Provincial Finals, Mother Teresa and Gloucester played for the right to go to Toronto. After a close match, the Titans took the game and the final spot. The final between Merivale and Lisgar, however, provided the most interesting part of the day. A broken buzzer and a disputed question in the second round led to, for the first time in history, an unresolved draw after all methods of tiebreaking proved unsatisfactory.
2009 Tournament
After a round robin and a slightly modified double elimination tournament, Colonel By had clinched the 3rd place and a berth to provincials. Lisgar and Merivale, already both qualified for provincials as the first and second place teams, played in the finals. A question dispute that had a 40-point swing led to the second straight year that these two teams had an unresolved draw.
2010 Tournament
During preliminary play, the top two teams of each of the 3 pools and the top two third place teams qualified for the second round. The powerhouses Lisgar, Merivale, Gloucester, Bell, and Colonel By qualified. Earl of March, AY Jackson, and Carine Wilson rounded off the top 8. In the second round, Lisgar won its pool, despite once having a large deficit in its game against Bell, who came second. Gloucester controversially lost to Merivale by 10 points, due to the lack of alternate answers provided by Reach for the Top editors. Merivale soundly defeated Bell to make it to the finals for the third year in a row. Lisgar defeated Gloucester by 10 points, without any controversy. In the 3rd place final, Gloucester qualified for provincials as they defeated Bell. Merivale and Lisgar, who both qualified for provincials as they made the finals, were to battle again in the finals of the Ottawa Division. Lisgar pulled off victorious without much difficulty.
2011 Tournament
During preliminary play, the top four teams each of two pools of six qualified for the second stage. Lisgar, Merivale, Glebe, and All Saints were in one playoff pool, and Earl of March, Gloucester, Colonel By, and Bell were in the other. First place Lisgar defeated second place Gloucester in one semifinal; First place Bell defeated second place Merivale in the other. Both already having a provincials berth, Lisgar defeated Bell in the finals and won the Richard Mageau trophy. The third provincials qualifier team was Gloucester as they defeated Merivale in the third place game. Note: After the round robin, Bell was 3-0 and led a pool of three 1-2 teams. Gloucester was second on basis of higher PPG.
2012 Tournament
Lisgar swept the field. Earl of March was second and Merivale was third, after defeating Colonel By by ten points in the third place game after several protests were resolved.
2013 Tournament
Merivale defeated Lisgar 360-300 in the finals to place first. Colonel By defeated Ashbury 380-220 for third. This tournament was notorious for its unusually high number of games decided by just 10 points.
2014 Tournament
Colonel By defeated Lisgar 330-320 in the finals. Merivale defeated Glebe in the third place game. All the top four teams qualified for the 2014 Provincial tournament.
2015 Tournament
Lisgar swept the field, defeating Glebe 410-160 in the finals. Nepean won the third place game 250-230 against the Ottawa Jewish Community School having previously eliminated Merivale, who were widely expected to qualify for provincials, in an upset in the quarter finals.