Bedford Road Invitational Tournament

The Bedford Road Invitational Tournament (BRIT) is one of the most prestigious boys high school basketball tournaments in all of Canada. It takes place every January at Bedford Road Collegiate in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The current format has 12 schools take part in the tournament. Some notable alumni of BRIT include Martin Riley, Brent Charleton, Karl Tilleman, John Hatch, Byron Tokarchuk, Eric Mobley, and Robert Sacre.

History

BRIT began in the fall of 1968 with only Saskatoon city school invited to the tournament. The following year, schools from Regina and Weyburn were invited making it a provincial wide tournament. In 1972, schools from outside of Saskatchewan were invitied for the first time. Winnipeg Sisler and Calgary E.P. Scarlett were invited and the magnitude of the tournament began to grow with the inviting of out of province teams.

In 1975 the tournament moved from December to its current January time frame. Teams from British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec made their first appearances during the late 70's. In 1988, the first American team entered the tournament, the New York Gauchos and they became the first foreign school to win the tournament. In 1998, the tournament format expanded to the current 12 team format. In 2004, the first non North American team entered the tournament as Scots College came from Sydney, Australia to take part in the tournament. BRIT is one of the major sporting events on the Saskatoon sporting calendar. The tournament is attended by scouts of many colleges and universities as BRIT is one of the premier high school tournaments in all of Canada.

In 2008, the tournament celebrated its 40th anniversary with teams from British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario. Teams from Nova Scotia and Taiwan were scheduled to participate, but dropped out a month in advance.

Champions

1968 - Saskatoon Bedford Road 1969 - Regina Sheldon-Williams 1970 - Regina Sheldon-Williams 1971 - Saskatoon Mount Royal 1972 - Winnipeg Sisler 1973 - Regina Sheldon-Williams 1975 - Regina Sheldon-Williams 1976 - Regina Sheldon-Williams 1977 - Burnaby (B.C.) South 1978 - Calgary Sir Winston Churchill 1979 - Clearbrook (B.C.) Mennonite Educational Institute 1980 - Clearbrook (B.C.) Mennonite Educational Institute 1981 - Ottawa Bell 1982 - Ottawa Bell 1983 - Ottawa St. Pius X 1984 - Calgary E.P. Scarlett 1985 - Edmonton M.E. Lazerte 1986 - Edmonton M.E. Lazerte 1987 - Winnipeg Kelvin 1988 - New York Gauchos 1989 - Winnipeg Windsor Park 1990 - Saskatoon Walter Murray 1991 - Edmonton Harry Ainley 1992 - Edmonton Harry Ainley 1993 - Ottawa Nepean 1994 - Pitt Meadows (B.C.) 1995 - Calgary Bishop Caroll 1996 - Edmonton M.E. Lazerte 1997 - Saskatoon Holy Cross

1998 - Vancouver Carson Graham 1999 - Regina Balfour 2000 - Edmonton Ross Sheppard 2001 - Edmonton Ross Sheppard 2002 - Calgary Lester B. Pearson 2003 - Saskatoon Holy Cross 2004 - Saskatoon Holy Cross 2005 - Vancouver Handsworth 2006 - Vancouver Handsworth 2007 - Vancouver Handsworth 2008 - Vancouver College

External links

* [http://www.britbasketball.net Official BRIT site]