In July of this year, 10-year old Kale Nicol will be heading to Edmonton, Alberta to represent Manitoba at The Brick Invitational Hockey Tournament, a tournament showcasing the top 10-year old hockey players in North America. Founded by Bill Comrie, the Brick Invitational Tournament is among the most prestigious super novice hockey tournaments in North America. Kale, a center, recently wrapped up his season as a member of the U11 A1 Wheat Kings White.
Joining Nicol will be 14 other players born in 2012, including skaters from Winnipeg, Winkler, Swan River, Virden & more. Nicol told bdnmb.ca that what he is most looking forward to is playing in front of the crowd and against strong players from the US and Canada. Kale has looked up to his older brother Reid who just played last summer in the True Franchise Cup (Covid Replacement of the Brick) where Reid scored the winning goal in the 4th overtime period for the tournament win. Like his brother, Kale is very determined to have the great experience his brother just had. He has a good team and is very happy to play all these games with them over the next several weeks. To prepare for The Brick Tournament, his team is scheduled to take part is a few exhibition games as well as tournaments in Winnipeg and Toronto.
Many players who have played in the tournament have gone on to NHL careers including the likes of Johnny Guadreau, Tyler Sequin, Dougie Hamilton and PK Subban.
