The 2015 birth year tournament will take place from June 30th - July 6th. This is not your typical spring/summer tournament as the Brick is a week-long event (seven day) tournament. Players/families would need to arrive typically one-two days before the opening round-robin game. We typically set up a practice the day before the tournament starts in the West Edmonton Mall. The championship game takes place on the final day of the tournament at 12:30 pm and is followed by the closing ceremonies. All players/teams are required to participate in the closing ceremonies and on ice jersey swap. Flights departing Edmonton should not be booked prior to 6:00pm on the final day.

All teams play six (6) round robin games. There are two conferences made up of seven teams each. The top three teams from each conference advance to the playoff round. Teams can potentially play three additional games: quarterfinal, semifinal and championship. Teams will play one game per day (except for one day that you play twice) during the round robin portion of the tournament. Last year over two hundred young players gained terrific experience and friendships when they participated in this Tournament and this year, we plan to make it an equally memorable one.

While some other tournaments call themselves an invitational, they do not compare to the selection process of the Brick. There are 14 Charters that are extended to the top programs in North America and only those can bring teams to the tournament each year. Outside of our Chicago Brick team...they are:

Boston Jr. Bruins, Western Selects, Team Alberta, Connecticut Jr Rangers, Detroit Jr. Red Wings, Team Quebec, Team Minnesota, Team Manitoba, Saskatchewan Jr. Pats, Toronto Bulldogs, Toronto Pro Hockey Development, Vancouver Jr. Canucks and Team Pennsylvania.

Each of the aforementioned teams who play at the Brick have a geographical protected area that they can select players from. In addition to that teams are allowed an “import”. An “import” is any player who lives outside of the team's protected area. The Chicago Brick protected area includes Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri. We are permitted to take three (3) import players from outside of the protected area. All players for the 2015 team must be born in 2015.

A complete schedule of training and competition weekends decided by 200x85 (April thru June) will be provided once the final team is determined. Participation and attendance at all tournaments and practices (for those players selected) is mandatory for all players. The Brick is a big commitment and the 200x85 staff needs time to prepare and have these players ready to compete in Edmonton. We will also be setting up some team building programs as the players and families spend a lot of time together. Player costs, budget and schedules will be presented to all families after final selections are complete.

The 2016 Chicago Brick Futures is specifically designed to highlight the hockey abilities and talents of today's rising Illinois players and tomorrow's Chicago Brick stars. The Brick Futures will also have a regional scouting network and Staff to watch and evaluate not only current Brick year (15’s) but the Future 16's. Every 2016 age player is eligible for selection. The Brick Futures are an incredibly important part of our program to see who the top players are to eventually represent our state in Edmonton for the actual Brick Tournament.

NO, the Chicago Brick team is the only sanctioned program (for the past 12 years) that can bring an Illinois team to the actual Brick Tournament in Edmonton, Alberta. One of the incredibly special things about the Brick Invitational Hockey Tournament perhaps even more so than the Quebec Peewee or the CCM World Hockey Invite tournament, is that they have managed to keep their tournament uniquely special for 31 years. Exclusive to the point that hockey people get excited about attending the tournament years in advance. These program names look confusingly similar but in reality, 200x85 has the only rights to the Brick Invitational Hockey Tournament held annually in Edmonton, Alberta for Squirt Minor age players (this year 2014).