The Brick Tournament is in their 35th year of showcasing the best 10-year-olds in North America. 14 teams travel from across the continent to West Edmonton Mall to compete for the title. American teams come from Detroit, Chicago, Connecticut, Boston, Minnesota Pennsylvania and a team combined from 12 western states. In Canada, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, 2 Toronto teams and Montreal round out the competition.
The Brick Tournament has displayed hundreds of future professional hockey players, with many of them being drafted and playing in the NHL. Some standout names include Matthew Barzal (BC), Matt Beniers (Boston), Jordan Binnington (Toronto), Cole Caufield (Chicago), Max Domi (Toronto), Jordan Eberle (BC), Johnny Gaudreau (Boston), Seth Jarvis (Manitoba), Mitch Marner (Toronto), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (BC), Cole Perfetti (Toronto), Alex Pietrangelo (Toronto) and Brayden Point (Alberta). The 2023 and 2024 NHL 1st overall draft picks Connor Bedard (BC) and Macklin Celebrini (BC) first put their skills on display at the Brick Tournament.
This year the 2014 Team Manitoba will be travelling to Edmonton to show everyone their talents. The team consists of Brixton Desaulniers, Cruz Ferreira, Levi Pollok, Zac Fedoriw, Wells Thompson, Gavin Kouk, Greyson Henkelman, Luke Moore, David Eaton-Sodomsky, Ben McDonald, Corbyn French, Michael Markhasin, Cooper Ellis, Brooks Hague, Tucker Simms, Austin Boyd and led by Head Coach Troy Slater. In April, Team Manitoba played in the HHOF Future Legends tournament Toronto. In May, Pineapples Hockey was able to get their first look at the Brick team in Winnipeg at the Spring Shootout and then again at the North American Hockey Classic in June.
Manitoba took on CCM Chicago on Sunday June 30th in their final tune up game before the tournament started. They played well and skated away with a 5-1. The team was hoping their strong play and confidence would transfer over to Monday when the tournament started.
Monday evening Team Manitoba skated out onto the West Edmonton Mall Ice Palace flashing their team logo skate wraps and eye black. The baby blue flooded the corner as fans hung banners and big heads of the players. The first game of the tournament for Team Manitoba was against the host Team Alberta. Team Alberta played earlier in the day against Toronto Pro Hockey falling 5-3.
Photo courtesy of the Instagram 2014mb_brickteam.
Game 1: Manitoba vs Alberta
Greyson Henkelman would get the start for Manitoba while Boston Bleile was his counterpart at the opposite end. Levi Pollok, Brooks Hague and Corbyn French were in the starting lineup up front while Gavin Kouk and Zac Fedoriw manned the blue line. Manitoba won the opening draw and took play in the offensive zone, but it was Alberta who made the quick steal and had the first scoring chance of the game with a cross crease play that Henkelman was able to deny. Luke Moore shut down the next wave of attack with a beautiful open ice hit as Alberta tried entering the zone through the middle. Teams may have been nervous early as passes weren’t on the tape and breakouts were sloppy leading to multiple icings for both teams. Midway through the 1st period, Simms found French stretching the zone and connected on a long pass, but Kristers Ziedins was able to backcheck and track down the puck carrier. Many defensive turnovers led to a few bad angle chances and a rebound but again all were controlled by Henkelman. Through 10 minutes, Manitoba had still not generated enough shots and chances. Wells Thompson kept strong possession of the puck and Alberta struggled to steal it from him forcing them to draw a penalty. On the Manitoba powerplay, Brooks Hague had an excellent zone entry deke and puck recovery leading to a mini breakaway being chased by all 4 penalty killers. Brixton Desaulniers also had a dangerous chance alone in front by Bleile was solid on the kill. It didn’t take long for Manitoba to pull out their set faceoff plays as they stretched their winger from the defensive zone where Desaulniers would get another good scoring chance off the break. Moore would would lay the body again late in the period, this time however would lead to a penalty and the first kill for Manitoba. Alberta would put the pressure on with a quick wraparound chance that was smothered by Henkelman. He would fight through the traffic to make a point shot save as he stood strong at the top of his crease. Henkelman made 2 more big saves late in the period as Alberta continued with the pressure on the powerplay.
Alberta started the 2nd period on the powerplay and it was Henkelman again that kept Manitoba in a scoreless game. Once back at 5 on 5, Wells Thompson made a great play out of the zone and over to Michael Markhasin who just couldn’t get his full strength behind the shot which led to Manitoba’s best scoring chance of the game. Alberta would again take control and extend their zone time leading to a few shots that just missed the net. Manitoba was scrambling in their zone but Tucker Simms finally gained possession as he tried to escape the zone was hauled down and Manitoba went on their second powerplay. Hague who quarterbacks the top powerplay unit controls the puck with confidence and enters the zone with poise. He found Fedoriw who just missed the net through a screen on the PP. Fedoriw fanned on a cross crease one-timer that would have been a guaranteed goal had he connected. Action went back and forth, mostly through the neutral zone as defenders shut down the entries early. On a line change, Levi Pollok stretched the zone which left Manitoba playing shorthanded in their own zone where Alberta outnumbered Manitoba in front of the net and once again Henkelman was relied upon. Manitoba would end up getting a 3 on 1 in which no shot would be put on net as the pass was just into the feet. On the turnover, Alberta came down the ice where the puck would be frozen on the half wall and in the 3 on 3 board battle, Alberta would come out with the puck. Doug Deschamps jumped in from the point as Manitoba was caught puck focused as Kase Lindberg slid it back door where Deschamps opened the scoring with a blocker side goal. On the next shift, Fedoriw was caught pinching and Lindberg chipped the puck out of the zone and was able to out-skate Ben McDonald to the loose puck where he went forehand backhand and tucked home the puck glove side to take a 2-0 lead just 30 seconds after opening the scoring late in the second. Just as the period was about to expire, Brodie Fink deked through a Manitoba defender and let a shot go that was labelled top corner but Henkelman flashed the leather to keep it 2-0 heading into the final frame giving his team a chance to comeback.
In the 3rd, Alberta started strong controlling the puck and zone time. Ben Beechey walked out to the slot and had a quality scoring chance where Henkelman swallowed it up. The defensive zone faceoff play came out again, but this time Alberta was ready to shut it down. It will be interesting to see how many times they are able to utilize these plays as other teams start to pre scout. Manitoba struggled to move pucks quickly and efficiently in their own zone in which Alberta was able to continue their pressure which came in waves. Alberta won the majority of the wall battles and created turnovers which led to scoring chances all game. Being down 2-0, Manitoba was only able to muster up 1 shot through the first 8 minutes of the final frame where it was Markhasin who chased the puck down the wall and tried cutting in where he ran out of room on a backhand deke. As Alberta collected the puck and made their way up ice, Manitoba took a penalty with 5:35 remaining in the period. On the penalty kill, Hague was controlling play in the offensive zone before he caught an edge and was injured. As he laid on the ice, Alberta maintained possession creating a 5 on 3. Deschamps stepped up in the play firing the puck low glove side through a double screen. As the score reached 3-0 with only 4 minutes remaining, Manitobas chances were dwindling. Manitoba tried to stretch the ice and run the Hail Mary play which continued to lead to more turnovers. Manitoba would eventually get their 1st of the tournament with 90 seconds left when Desaulniers won the faceoff, David Eaton-Sodomsky recovered the puck and passed it to Fedoriw who shot the puck and Desaulniers tipped it and Eaton-Sodomsky collected the rebound and roofed it. As the game winded down, the Manitoba frustration was showing as another big hit was made just before the buzzer went. The referees let the kids play in this one as there were some big checks and physical altercations that went uncalled. Manitoba dropped their first contest and look to get their first win against Pennsylvania in their next game. The final shots were 26-16 Alberta. Manitoba gave up too many grade A chances and couldn’t generate enough shots of their own. Greyson Henkelman played very well for Manitoba in the losing effort.
Game 2: Manitoba vs Pennsylvania
On the second day of the tournament, it was an early start for Manitoba as puck drop was scheduled for 9:10am. Both teams were searching for 2 important points as they were playing against Pennsylvania who also lost their opening game. Cooper Ellis got the start for Manitoba this morning. The game started strong for Manitoba who controlled play early winning more races and battles. 4 minutes in the shots were still 0-0 until a puck went through the crease off the side wall where Ben McDonald jumped in from the point to pick it up and let the shot go from the faceoff circle. It hit goalie up high and bounced over top and of him and into the net giving Manitoba the early 1-0 on their first shot. Manitoba would continue to control play but numerous offsides halted their chances to enter the zone with speed. The first Pennsylvania chance didn’t come until midway through the first on a wraparound where Ellis pushed post-to-post to make the save. Pennsylvania started to wake up and was able to push back. They had a great chance coming down the right wing wall trying to go cross crease where Ellis kicked out the pad. On a defensive zone draw for Manitoba, Pennsylvania won the draw to the wall but the right winger had jumped early giving Levi Pollok tons of space to gain speed out of the zone. He blew by the defender and Brooks Hague joined the play as well. Pollok made a gorgeous pass to Hague who had a tap in goal as he drove the net giving Manitoba a 2-0 lead. Manitoba continued their pressure for the remainder of the period not allowing Pennsylvania to keep any sustained offence. Pollok’s speed in the first period was challenging for Pennsylvania to manage.
Pennsylvania started the 2nd period strong with some early pressure on the forecheck causing Manitoba to make some poor decisions on their breakouts. Pennsylvania started to get some more chances as Ellis fought off a shot from the outside and a deke after they beat out an icing call. Manitoba would get their first powerplay of the game which struggled to gain entry making bad passes and couldn’t get their setup in place. Late in the powerplay, Corbyn French entered across the middle of the ice while Desaulniers drove the net. French let his shot go from the top of the circle and it just grazed the crossbar. Right after the unsuccessful powerplay, Pennsylvania came blazing down the ice and shot rom the goal line where Ellis let a big rebound to the slot and Hank Coffield just missed the net. Corbyn French would take a penalty and Manitoba wouldn’t give the Pennsylvania any looks with aggressive pressure and strong clears. Pennsylvania powerplay went 0 for 4 in the game. Shots at the end of the 2nd were 10-8 Manitoba.
To start the 3rd, Manitoba had an early powerplay which led to better puck movement, loose puck retrievals and some scoring chances. A turnover at the blue line led to a shorthanded breakaway by Chase Dippold who just lost possession before he got a late shot off that just sailed over the net. Teams would then trade quality scoring chances that hit posts. Back and forth play resulted in nothing dangerous until a costly turnover and bad defensive change led to Joseph Tanjiku skating in untouched and put the puck wide on the blocker side. With 4 minutes left, Jayden Dao made a breakout pass to center and it led to a 3 on 1 rush. Evan Gardner floated a beautiful saucer pass to Coffield who put the puck under the glove to cut the lead to 2-1. Pennsylvania kept the pressure on in the following shifts and would call their timeout with 2:30 remaining and with an offensive faceoff. They pulled their goalie and had the extra man to challenge the Manitoba defence. Mason Webb won the puck race and eluded pressure where he walked off the half wall untouched and shot top corner tying the game at 2 with 2:19 remaining. Hague was creative and patient with the puck waiting for the perfect time to attack the net. He got the puck to the crease and played past the whistle giving the goalie and extra jab with his stick resulting in a late powerplay for Pennsylvania. Pollok used his blazing speed again and would get the best chance on that powerplay where Pennsylvania would need to hook him to slow him down and get the remainder of the period to 4 on 4. With nobody breaking the deadline, overtime was set. A 2 minute period of 3 on 3 play. Then a 2-minute period of 2 on 2. Hague and Pollok started the 2 on 2 period for Manitoba. Pollok gained possession down the left wing wall, made a toe drag to the middle around a defender and drove to the far post pushing the next defender back leaving Hague alone in the slot who made no mistake firing the puck low blocker. A sliding celebration all the way to center ice where his teammates would pile on top of him capped off the morning at the West Edmonton Mall for Manitoba. Levi Pollock was named 3rd Star and Brooks Hague was named 1st Star of the game. Final shots were 20-17 for Manitoba. Manitoba gets back to work tomorrow morning against Boston Jr Bruins (1-0-1) and in the afternoon against BC Junior Canucks (0-3). Manitoba sits in 5th place in the Wigston Conference and will need 2 wins tomorrow to climb into a playoff position.
Photo courtesy of Instagram brickhockey.