CCM Chicago

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.

The tournament will once again be played in its entirety under the dome at the West Edmonton Mall Ice Palace in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

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.

The CCM Chicago team requires all players in our demographic area (IL, WI, MO) to try out during our evaluation periods. Per our program policy, we are not able to sign a waiver granting permission to play for any other Brick franchise unless the player has attended our tryouts. And, likewise, if a player were to have attended our camp and declined a roster spot offered to them, there would  be no waiver extended. These tenets are used by most, if not all, of the Brick franchises.

If a player did attend our tryout evaluation and made our team, we welcome your family wholeheartedly and conversely if you attend but are not selected, we will absolutely sign a waiver for him to play elsewhere or, as an advocate, help that player find a team.  These are the policies and principles that guide us, and the Brick tournament is very serious about these matters.

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.

200 x 85 LLC’s Kevin Mann has set up a group of evaluators who make final team selections.  This team is not pre-selected before the actual evaluations and our program is absolutely not affiliated with any in-season team, coach or club. Everyone is welcome to register for the evaluations and be part of this most memorable and exciting hockey experience.   We will take the players who have been pre-scouted, recommended from a group of Squirt Tier I and Tier II Coaches, players who show up for Evaluation/ID Camps and those who advance to our final tryout.  It is our task is to form a panel without any agendas and find people who will have an unfiltered vision.  The biggest thing is to make sure we have evaluators who know the Squirt 2015 level, first and foremost. Our evaluators are all committed to serving the best interest of the Chicago Brick— not any individual interests or those of their team clubs/associations. 

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).

Thanks to team and individual fundraising, we are able to offer this program in the $3500 budget range per player.  Final player fees and budget will be presented to all families after team selection.  Again, no player will be turned away due to financial hardships and we will assist any family in need.

This includes:

• Team practices right up until departure.
• Raffle tickets and Prizing for all Fundraising – Players keep 100% of proceeds.
• 1 hotel room for 8 nights at the Fantasyland Hotel in the West Edmonton Mall (this alone is close to $2000 per player).
• Team Jerseys, Socks and Pant Shell
• Team Outfitting (Backpacks, Tee, Shorts, Hoody, Warm Ups)
• Trading Pins - Helmet Decals
• Team Tournament Entry Fee and DVD
• Water Park Passes for Team Beach Party
• Insurance Coverage
• Coaches Expenses (travel, hotel and per diem)
• Pre Tournament Ice including Training Weekends and 3 Tournament Entry Fees.

Costs do not include:

• Airfare
• Transportation to and from hotel (all games played at the West Edmonton Mall)
• Additional hotel rooms if needed
• Meals
• Black Helmet