Tournament of Champions gets boost from Sportsplex

It’s one of Brandon’s best times of the hockey season and this time around there’s even more cause to celebrate.

This year marks the 55th anniversary of Hockey Brandon’s Tournament of Champions, with 84 teams competing in six divisions over two weeks, and with Week 1 already in the books, the early returns seem to be a smashing success, and that’s in part to the return of the Sportsplex.

Two years ago, Hockey Brandon saw an estimated $50,000 drop in revenue with around 14 fewer teams at the tournament due to the Sportsplex not being available. This year, however, they don’t have to worry about that issue.

“It’s especially nice to have the Sportsplex rink back up and running this year,” said tournament director Kris Klemick. “We were able to have a few extra teams this year in a couple of divisions because we had that ice available.”

Klemick, who is joined on the organizing committee by Craig Anderson, Laurie Clarke, Sharon Lilley, Al Sellars, Marc Lyver, Don Wilson, Tracey Paul and Brenda Klemick, said having the flexibility of the Sportsplex and J&G Homes Arena has allowed more teams from out of province like Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario, and North Dakota to join the fold. As a result, more than 1,500 athletes participated at a cost of $2,400 per team.

Last weekend showcased the under-15 A, and U13 A and AA divisions, with the Moosomin Rangers claiming the U15 A-side championship, the Estevan Bruins taking home the U13A A-side championship and the Brandon Wheat Kings Gold securing the U13AA A-side championship over Wheat Kings Black 6-0.

Klemick said a hometown battle was arguably the best scenario they could have asked for.

“Anytime there’s a Brandon team in the final, the rink’s packed, but especially when there’s two, it was a pretty full house for that game,” he said. “It was a great crowd and a good game.”

The other three divisions in action this weekend are U11 A co-ed, U13 AA girls, and U15 AA. Tim Lang’s U15 Wheat Kings squad already got a win under their belt on Thursday with a 5-2 win over the Pembina Central Flyers and played the Estevan Bruins on Friday night, but the game ended after deadline. Brandon’s U13 girls are winless through two games.

Klemick said it’s difficult gauging how competitive each team in every division will be, however, they still do their best to make sure it’s fair for everyone.

“It’s tough,” he said. “We’ll research where teams are at in their league standings, and just from year to year, we know what categories are not consistent across all the provinces but we’ve gotten to know these people that are in the community for a long time now, so we know where teams should be coming from, but there’s always some that are just really strong teams and get on a roll before Christmas. You can’t be perfect, but we try to be and make sure it’s competitive for everyone.”

Klemick also said they looked at adding a U17 AAA division this year, but the idea fell through. He said not to completely count it out for next year.

“We’ll try and push that again for next year to get some more teams because there isn’t a lot of tournaments around for that age group,” Klemick said. “Wherever we can add teams, we will, and we’ve always looked at trying to grow the female side of it, and from year to year, it can be either easier or more challenging depending on how many teams are around.”

Another new idea Hockey Brandon tried implementing this year to “spice things up” involved the Western Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings.

On the Friday mornings of both weeks, the TOC gave coaches the opportunity to have coffee with some of the Wheat Kings coaching staff to bounce ideas off each other, whether it be how to run practices, run a bench during the game and other advice. Brandon assistants Mark Derlago and Del Pedrick came down to give their two cents, which was very well received from everyone who participated.

“We just try to get a bit of a unique experience and we tweak that a little bit every year,” said Klemick. “We learn from the past and look forward to a better experience every year.”

Every athlete this year received a Howies hockey bag and each team’s player of the game is given a Bauer mini stick, while the hardest working player gets a water bottle. Coaches were also given a Warrior bag too. Klemick noted they may be little gifts to add to the TOC experience, but they haven’t gone unnoticed.

“The best part is every weekend when we get coaches and managers and parents stopping us in the hallway or coming to the office and saying, ‘Thanks very much for putting this tournament on, it’s the best tournament we go to,’” he said. ‘They talk about the prizes, the player gifts, coach gifts, the coffee, everything.

“Every new experience we try to bring in is highly appreciated by everyone and it’s good to hear that everybody enjoys coming to this. They look forward to coming to this tournament, so it makes it worthwhile.”

The tournament is appreciated by visitors, and the city is no doubt appreciative of the visitors, as the TOC’s impact is arguably larger off the ice than on.

“It’s a significant financial impact with thousands of people coming into the city for these two weekends,” Klemick said. “There’s a lot of people coming to town. We pack every hotel, they’re eating at all the restaurants, they’re shopping at the mall, they’re shopping at the sporting good stores.”

It’s also developing some of the next generation of hockey players.

Over the last three years Hockey Brandon has used revenue from the TOC to subsidize registration costs for U7 Timbits. Klemick believes it’s a worthwhile investment given the economic strain hockey can have on families.

“We just try and give back and keep the growth going with kids coming into the game,” he said. “Costs have gone up over the last number of years and hockey’s pretty expensive, so if we can do something to put on a tournament a couple times a year for a couple weekends, then I think it’s a good idea to try and keep those costs down and have more kids coming in the game.”

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com