Brooks residents welcome back Centennial Cup Champion Bandits
The Brooks Bandits were welcomed home by a crowd of fans on Monday, May 22, 2023, before holding a championship parade on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
The Brooks Bandits were welcomed home by a crowd of fans on Monday night, before holding a championship parade the next day.
The Bandits rode a dominant 4-0 win over the Battlefords Northstars on Sunday to claim the 2023 Centennial Cup, becoming the first Junior A team to win three straight national championships.
The team went undefeated through six games and only allowed a tournament-record four goals.
"A lot of people think because we score a lot of goals, all we think about is offence, but it's actually the opposite. We're really big on defence and creating offence from the defensive zone," said Bandits forward Davide Patella.
"I don't think we could win without the fans and the community around us," Bandits defenceman Aaron Brown said.
"They showed their support throughout the whole season, then just to cap it off at the end this year with a big parade and the welcome home was awesome to see."
Championship parades are nothing new for Brooks, which held championship parades in 2019 & 2022.
Despite this, hundreds of people still turned out to see the newly crowned national champions.
"It feels amazing," said forward, Nathan Free. "I know the expectation was for us to win, and that's why we won – we were confident – but at the end of the day, it still feels great,"
The level of support they’ve received isn’t lost on the players, they’ve felt the love from the fans all season long.
"The fans obviously bring a lot of energy to us, keep us going, those games on the Wednesday nights when you think no one's going to be there, half the town of Brooks shows up and cheers on the boys, Patella said.
"It's great to have a good community behind you."
This season marks Bandits' fourth national championship, tying with the Prince Albert Raiders for second most of all time.
Only the Vernon Vipers have more, with six.
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