Members of the Brooks Bandits take in the scene from the Centennial Cup victory parade in Brooks on May 23, 2023. (Photo Courtesy Kevin Kyle)

By Chris Brown

Bandits get hero’s welcome at home after third straight national title

May 24, 2023 | 4:46 PM

BROOKS, AB – After rolling through the competition at the Centennial Cup, the Brooks Bandits rolled through their city on Tuesday to the delight of their fans.

Hundreds of them lined the street for a parade to celebrate the Bandits winning back-to-back-to-back national junior A championships, the first team to ever do so.

Captain Dario Beljo says the historic threepeat is tough for him to wrap his head around.

“I just remember when I got here my first year thinking it was cool to be part of the defending national championship,” he said at the celebration. “But now even three years later we still have the title, so a pretty cool feeling.”

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The Bandits won the title with a 4-0 shutout of the Battlefords North Stars, capping an undefeated 6-0 run at the tournament in Portage La Prairie Man. They outscored their opponents 34-4 in the six games.

Like Beljo, Aiden Fink is now a two-time national junior A championship and says that even as the final seconds ticked off the clock the win hadn’t sunk in.

“I know that sounds crazy,” he said Tuesday. “But you know it melted my heart that this group of guys and this coaching staff won.”

Fink led all scorers with 13 points in the Centennial Cup and was named MVP. He was also named the Canadian Junior Hockey League And Alberta Junior Hockey League regular season MVP among a host of honours he earned this season.

None compare to the Centennial Cup crown.

“The best one for me is the national championship and that’s the best thing that ever happened to me, winning two national championships now,” he said, adding this one may have been ever sweeter than the first in 2022.

“As good as a team as we have and everything it’s nothing without the community support.” _{–Dario Beljo}

Goaltender Ethan Barwick has been part of all three Bandits’ championships during this run and says this one will definitely be somewhere in the yearbook for him.

He allowed just four goals in the tournament and had three shutouts, including in the final.

“We knew they were high scoring in all their games throughout the year so we knew coming in that we had to play our best defensively,” he said. “I knew that if I played my game right it would probably go our way.”

All three credit the coaching staff and their teammates for their success.

Beljo says there’s another ingredient.

“As good as a team as we have and everything it’s nothing without the community support,” he said. “That’s you know probably the most special part about playing here. is how much the community is behind you and how much they make you a part of the town. It’s pretty special.”

The area’s member of parliament says the Bandits’ long history of success has had one draw back for him in Ottawa.

“There’s not an MP in Canada who will bet with me about having to wear the jersey in the House,” former mayor Martin Shields told the crowd on Tuesday, referencing the traditional friendly sports wager between politicians.

Now is a time to celebrate but the start of the chase for a fourth straight title is only a few months away.