Sports Briefs: 2025 BRIT teams announced

Teams competing in the 55th Annual Bedford Road Invitational Tournament (BRIT) have been revealed.

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Taking part in the 2025 edition of the basketball tournament will be five Saskatchewan teams, four Alberta teams and one team each from Manitoba, Quebec and B.C.

Local Saskatoon schools include host Bedford Road, St. Joseph, Holy Cross and defending champion Walter Murray, while Regina’s Archbishop O’Neill will round out the Saskatchewan teams.

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Travelling from Alberta will be Magrath High School, Medicine Hat High School, Brooks Composite and Edmonton’s St. Francis Xavier High School.

The three other teams include Kildonan-East Collegiate out of Winnipeg, Seminaire Saint-Joseph from Trois-Riveres, Que., and West Vancouver Secondary.

BRIT will run Jan. 9-11.

Update on high school basketball standings

Heading into the holiday break, senior basketball teams across the city were competing in pool play, which will wrap up with the final games on Jan. 9. From there, the teams will be split into the Premiere and Championship divisions.

Walter Murray and Holy Cross are currently tied with undefeated 2-0 records in girls’ Pool A action, while the boys’ teams of both schools are atop their own Pool A standings at 3-0.

On the girls’ side in Pool B, both Bethlehem and Bishop James Mahoney boast undefeated records, but the former is at 4-0, while the latter is at 3-0. Meanwhile, there’s a three-way tie between Centennial, Marion Graham and Tommy Douglas in boys’ Pool B, who each hold a 3-1 record.

Saskatoon Christian School is alone atop the girls’ Pool C standings with an undefeated 3-0 record, while the boys’ Pool C standings also have Saskatoon Christian School in the top spot, but with a 2-1 record.

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Huskies taking part in exhibition games

The U Sports Canada West conference is still on a holiday break, but it doesn’t mean teams from the University of Saskatchewan aren’t in action.

Playing at home, the Huskies men’s hockey team is hosting the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings. The Dogs will face off at 7 p.m. on Jan. 3 and again at 3 p.m. on Jan. 4 at Merlis Belsher Place.

The Dogs, who are 12-4-0 during the Canada West season, will return to regular action with a home-and-home series against the Regina Cougars Jan. 10 and 11.

On the volleyball court, the women’s team is hosting the Battle of the Prairies Tournament at the Physical Activity Complex.

The Huskies take on the Regina Cougars at 5 p.m. on Jan. 2, and will then play the Winnipeg Wesmen at 5 p.m. on Jan. 3, before wrapping up the competition against the Huskie Alumni at 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 4.

Meanwhile, the men’s volleyball team will be in California for a week taking part in two events.

On Dec. 30 and 31, they’ll face the Stanford Cardinals in a pair of exhibition games, before competing in the North American Challenge on Jan. 3 and 4.

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In that tournament, they’ll play the host Long Beach State Sharks and Pepperdine Waves on Jan. 3 and will take on the UC San Diego Tritons on Jan. 4.

The women’s team, who are 3-7, as well as the men’s team, who are 6-4, return to Canada West season on Jan. 10 and 11 when both teams head to Calgary to play the Dinos.

Blades end December winless slump

The Saskatoon Blades — who were back in action Monday night at Prince Albert (result unavailable at press-time) — picked up their first very first December wins of the season over the weekend, defeating the Regina Pats and Moose Jaw Warriors in Western Hockey League action.

On Saturday night, the Blades posted a 5-2 victory over the Regina Pats in Regina. Brandon Lisowsky, Hudson Kibbelwhite, Ben Riche, Misha Volotovskii and Colton Worthington, with an empty-netter, scored for Saskatoon.

Blades’ goaltender Ethan McCallum made 32 saves on 34 shots to earn the win.

The night before in Saskatoon, the Blades sent the Warriors packing with another 5-2 win. Lisowsky, with a pair, Riche, Morgan Tastad and Rowan Calvert scored for the Blades.

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Evan Gardner was between the pipes for the Blades in the game, stopping 24 of 26 shots.

The victories were the first wins that the Blades had posted since Nov. 30 when they defeated the Swift Current Broncos. Since then, they had been on a six-game winless streak which ran from Dec. 4 to Dec. 15, when they entered the Christmas holiday break.

The wins improved Saskatoon’s record to 19-10-2-2, putting the Blades atop the WHL’s Eastern Conference standings.

The Blades will begin 2025 by hosting the Raiders on New Year’s Day, at 4 p.m., at SaskTel Centre.

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