Dylan MacDonald has no regrets playing his final season of high school hockey with the Riverview Redmen, but admits the time went by quickly.

The Grade 12 team captain says he doesn’t know what emotions this weekend will bring when he steps on the ice for his final Red Cup Showcase at the Cape Breton County Recreation Centre.

“Red Cup is the biggest thing of the whole school year, so knowing this is the last time I will play in the tournament feels weird,” said MacDonald, a Sydney resident.

“The whole school comes out to support us and it really brings everyone together and really shows the community our school spirit.”

The 41st annual Red Cup Showcase will officially kick off Thursday, running until Sunday at the Coxheath venue.

The Redmen will be joined in the Red Division by the Memorial Marauders of Sydney Mines, Lockview Dragons of Fall River, N.S., and the Avon View Avalanche of Windsor, N.S.

In the White Division, Cape Breton representatives the Glace Bay Panthers and Sydney Academy Wildcats will be joined by the Auburn Drive Eagles of Cole Harbour, N.S., and the Horton Griffins of Wolfville, N.S.

Red Cup Showcase Schedule:

Cape Breton County Recreation Centre, Coxheath

Red Division: Riverview Redmen, Memorial Marauders, Lockview Dragons and Avon View Avalanche

White Division: Glace Bay Panthers, Sydney Academy Wildcats, Auburn Drive Eagles and Horton Griffins

Thursday

• 6 p.m. – Sydney Academy vs. Glace Bay
• 8 p.m. – Riverview vs. Memorial

Friday

• 1:30 p.m. – Lockview vs. Memorial
• 3:30 p.m. – Auburn Drive vs. Sydney Academy
• 5:30 p.m. – Glace Bay vs. Horton
• 7:30 p.m. – Riverview vs. Avon View

Saturday

• 10 a.m. – Horton vs. Auburn Drive
• 12 p.m. – Lockview vs. Avon View
• 2 p.m. – Horton vs. Sydney Academy
• 4 p.m. – Memorial vs. Avon View
• 6 p.m. – Glace Bay vs. Auburn Drive
• 8 p.m. – Riverview vs. Lockview

Sunday

• 1 p.m. – Consolation Game
• 3 p.m. – Championship Game

Redmen head coach Jimmy Smith believes it’s important for his team to get off to good start in the tournament by winning the opening game against the Memorial Marauders on Thursday.

“There’s no room in the format for errors,” said the veteran bench boss. “If you lose in the round robin you could be out of the final, so basically my only concern is that we’re focused and that we play our game.

“Memorial’s team record is misleading, they have a good team and they have some really good veteran players and two good goaltenders — and goaltending can do some strange things, especially in an important game.”

Riverview has had a successful season to date.

The club sits first overall in the four-team Cape Breton High School Hockey League standings with an 17-1-0-0 record and has captured both the Mae Kibyuk Memorial Green and Gold and Panther Classic tournament titles.

“In these tournaments, league standings don’t really mean a lot because you’re playing teams from the mainland and it determines how good the competition is going to be,” said Smith.

“We haven’t seen Auburn Drive and Lockview — two of the bigger schools — so we’ll have to see what they bring and see how we match up.”

The Redmen have 10 returning players from last year’s team, which suffered a 5-0 loss to the Halifax West Warriors in the Red Cup Showcase final last February, something MacDonald hasn’t forgotten.

“It was embarrassing losing to those guys in front of our fans and everyone,” said MacDonald, noting it’s a dream come true for him to be the club’s captain in his graduating year.

“I don’t think losing is an option this year — we want to take it all.”

The tournament will begin Thursday with Glace Bay playing Sydney Academy at 6 p.m., followed by the Redmen and Marauders at 8 p.m.

Riverview will continue the tournament on Friday when they take on Avon View at 7:30 p.m., before wrapping up the round robin on Saturday at 8 p.m. against Lockview.

“You can expect to win, but to a certain extent,” said MacDonald. “You can’t go into a game and think it’s going to be easy. We may have the crowd behind us, but the other team has the same crowd watching, so they want to play their best to beat us in front of them.”

The consolation game is slated for Sunday at 1 p.m., followed by the championship game at 3 p.m.