The top 10 year old hockey players in North America make the annual trip to Edmonton's West Edmonton Mall to play in what is called the greatest hockey tournament in the world. Brandon's Kale Nicol born in 2012 was a standout this past week at The Brick tournament. He follows in the footsteps of Brandon's Jaxon Jacobson (2008) and Clarke Caswell (2006) whom were both All Stars at the Brick in their respective years.  The team once known as the Junior Jets is now the Jr Ice. Toews - Seabrook - Zajac and hundreds of other players were once at this tournament and have gone on to success. http://brickhockey.pointstreaksites.com/view/brickinvitational/tournament-info-5/where-are-they-now-9 To get from point A to point B involves many trips to Winnipeg and lots of nights in hotels.  BDNMB.CA caught up with Kurt Nicol, father of Kale today. The trips were shared by my wife and I as we made approximately 50 trips to Winnipeg. Lots of hotel nights and naps in the truck helped to reduce travel and stay rested. Practice skates on the ODR at -35 and help from WCHA skills sessions allowed Kale to achieve his goals. Help from grandparents who were instrumental as well in this journey.. Former Wheat King and Dallas Stars Scott Glennie coached Kale this year and was a positive role model and guided Kale to use his shot and how to create more scoring chance. Kale said he was just that all around fun guy who made the kids laugh. All the coaches made it a positive experience. Truly a once in a lifetime experience for Kale and the Nicol family.

The Brandon A's captured the provincial 11U A (Zone 2) Provincials over the weekend in Stonewall. The A's upended Stonewall in Sunday's final to claim the title. Twelve teams participated over the weekend, split into three pools. Prior to the championship game, they disposed of Stonewall - McFayden, Carman, and Ste. Anne in their respective pool. In semi-final action Sunday, Daniel Flett propelled them to the gold medal game pitching 5 innings of shutout ball. 3 Oliver, Liam 9 Teetaert, Dane 8 Burton, Cohen 2 Vines, Tyson 11 Lang, Ari 4 Baranyk, Brady 7 Luhowy, Matthew 13 Honke, Jackson 15 Flett-Neapew, Daniel 5 Ratz, Mason 6 Preston, Will (AP/GUEST) 16 Olsen, Brayden (AP/GUEST) 10 Deacon, Skyler (AP/GUEST) 14 Taylor, Sullivan (AP/GUEST)

The Moose Knuckles received a hat trick from Brad Schoonbaert on their way to a hard -fought 7-5  victory over “Hot Garbage” in the finals of the inaugural Breakaway Summer Classic Ball Hockey Tournament. Tyler Coulter (2), Mike Butler, & Troy Hamilton also scored for the Knuckles. Ryker Batson (2), Jordan Bechtold (1), Josh Elmes (1), & Steve Mulholland replied with goals for Hot Garbage. The 3 on 3 ball hockey tournament took place Saturday at the Westridge Community Centre.

The 2nd annual Phinney Legacy Fund golf tournament will take place at the Deer Ridge Golf Course on September 9, 2022. The Phinney Legacy Fund is a not-for-profit organization that advocates for mental wellness in the construction industry. Phinney’s Legacy is in memory of Scott Phinney, a long-time construction tradesman who lost his life to suicide in 2019. Scott was a brother and friend, and the goal is to provide benevolence and assistance to construction workers and construction companies that cannot access benefits to offset medications, and or counseling costs. As the organization is in the forming stage of the Fund, they continue to work to refine the offerings based on the needs of our community and industry. In 2020, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) found that men working in construction have one of the highest suicide rates compared to other industries. In 2021, the CDC reported that male construction workers have a 65% higher suicide rate than all workers. For sponsorship opportunities, or to register for golf, please contact Tracy Williams at twilliams@cciwestman.ca or Andrea Epp at andrea@epplawoffice.ca. (with files from The Phinney Legacy Fund)

Baseball Manitoba recently announced their roster for the upcoming 17U Team Manitoba Canada Games baseball team that will represent Manitoba on Aug 6-13 in Niagara Falls. Brandon's Skylar Ramsey, Nolan Chastko and Dylan Schrader were among the players named. Of note, the three were also teammates this past season with the Brandon AAA U18 Wheat Kings hockey team. Connor Martin (Nesbitt ), Mason De Ruyck (Killarney) & Tyler Robertson (Boissevain) were also selected. The 6 players are all currently members of the AAA - 18u AAA Marlins.