Team Brick Alberta are ready to go for the gold at the Brick Super Novice Tournament this week.
“We’ve been practicing really hard,” said Matt Savoie, team captain and St. Albert native. “Everybody just wants to play hard and do their best. We’re excited to do that.”
Savoie’s brother Marc played in the tournament last year and passed on some advice for the big game.
“He told me to be really careful of the ice. The games are going to be at the Ice Palace, in West Edmonton Mall, which can get really hot,” said Savoie. “The ice can get pretty soft in the third period. It becomes harder to pass and skate, which can make the game tough.”
St. Albert is well represented on Team Brick Alberta with Savoie being backed up by Cale Ashcroft on defence and Levi Fesyk on forward.
“Our coach is making sure we drink lots of water and stay hydrated,” said Ashcroft. “We’ve played at this rink before, we know it’s going to be difficult.”
Familiarity with the arena might be the advantage that puts Team Brick Alberta in first this year.
“We’ve never played these guys, or watched them play before,” said Fesyk, referring to their first opponents in the tournament, the Connecticut Yankees. “And they’ve never seen us play. It’s going to be really interesting.”
When asked who’s the best player on the team, the boys were in agreement.
“There isn’t really a best player,” said Fesyk.
“We play well as a team, that’s all there is to it,” said Savoie. “Everyone on the ice works with everyone else. We can’t win without all of us working together.”
Team Brick Alberta’s focus on playing well together is really something to watch.
“Our coach makes us run a lot of passing drills and conditioning drills,” said Savoie. “Sometimes he splits us up into defence and offence so we can practice different things. We practice three to four times a week.”
Team Brick Alberta coach Steve Serdachny has a lot of experience finding the potential of young skaters. He has worked as a skating coach for the Edmonton Oilers and is an expert on the NHL Network’s show “Hockey Academy.”
The young players are excited to show off what they’ve learned in the upcoming tournament.
“We have been working hard,” said Ashcroft. “We have been preparing ourselves mentally and physically. It was a lot of work to get here.”
The Brick Super Hockey Novice Tournament brings excellent international Novice hockey to Alberta annually. This year’s tournament will run from June 30 to July 6 at the Ice Palace Arena in West Edmonton Mall.
You can find more information about the tournament action atwww.brickinvitational.pointstreaksites.com/or follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/brickhockey.
