Team Brick Alberta is well represented by St. Albert athletes and coaches this year. The Brick Invitational Hockey Tournament, a highly competitive tournament for 10-year-old hockey players, has three players and four coaches selected from St. Albert. Jack Kachkowski, Matthew Kondro and Will Lutic were chosen to play for the provincial team at the competitive tournament. The head coach of the team, Umberto Fiorillo lives in St. Albert. After Fiorillo was selected as the coach from 10 applicants, he assembled his own team of assistant coaches, mentors and trainers. Of the group he chose, coaches Sandro Pisani, his brother Mike Fiorillo and player mentor Serge Lajoie are from St. Albert. Fiorillo said that he wanted the coaching job because he had great memories of the tournament from his childhood. His brother played in the tournament in 1996 and Fiorillo said the tournament was a great family event. “I think I just wanted to be a part of the best tournament in North America for 10-year-olds. I felt like I had a lot to offer and to create a memorable experience for them and it’s using hockey as a vehicle to create a great life experience for these young athletes,” Fiorillo said. Although Fiorillo hasn’t coached 10-year-olds before he brings a lot of coaching experience to the tournament. He is the assistant coach of the U of A Golden Bears men’s hockey team. He has also spent time coaching the St. Albert midget AAA Raiders with Lajoie and had an undefeated season as the coach of the NAIT hockey team. “It’s definitely challenged us as coaches to make sure we are teaching them the best we can. Otherwise we are just instilling confidence and doing everything we can for them to reach their full potential. All we are asking them for is their best effort and to have a team-first mentality and I think everything else will take care of itself,” Fiorillo said. Fiorillo said that many kids from St. Albert tried out for the team but the three that were selected are great kids. “They are great kids off the ice. They work extremely hard and accept coaching. Right now they are really big parts of our team,” Fiorillo said. For the players, this is the most competitive level of hockey they have played. Kachkowski, a seven-year hockey veteran who plays defence for Team Brick, is most looking forward to playing against the teams from across North America. Kondro is one of the team’s goalies and he likes playing on the team because of the great coaching they get under Fiorillo. The nine-year-old netminder has been working hard to make the team and for the past three years during the hockey season Kondro works with a goalie coach from the Seattle Thunderbirds once a week to sharpen his skills. Lutic, the St. Albert right-winger is excited to be on the team because of all of the new friends he gets to meet from across the province. He is also excited to be playing on the ice surface at West Edmonton Mall with so many spectators. The team was assembled about a month and a half ago and already scooped up a bronze medal in a tournament in Winnipeg. The tournament runs at the Edmonton mall for the week and wraps up on Sunday. Each team plays six round robin games. Team Brick Alberta has won their first game against Team Manitoba with a final score of 3-2. The team plays Wednesday morning against the Detroit Red Wings at 9:10 a.m. and on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. against the BC Junior Canucks.
