Local players make the cut for Hockey Manitoba

It’s likely the Team Manitoba hockey roster at the upcoming 2027 Canada Winter Games will have some Eastman flair.

Four players from the region were named to the U16 Boys Program of Excellence summer roster. The named 28 players were born in 2011 and 2012.

Goaltender Haize Brightnose (Ste Anne), defenseman Brady Piec and forwards Reed Sherry (St Malo) and Nixon Gaudet (Ile des Chenes) were named to the roster. Brightnose and Piec suit up for the Rink Hockey Academy in Winnipeg while Sherry and Gaudet play for the Eastman Selects AAA program.

The U16 Program of Excellence team will play a series of exhibition games against AAA and prep school programs Oct. 2-4 in Winnipge.

Ste Agathe’s Isabelle Labossiere (goaltender) is the only player from the region to be named to the U18 women’s program of excellence 26-player roster. That team will also play an exhibition series in the fall, against the University of Manitoba Bisons women’s team.

Both teams had a skills camp at the Hockey for All Centre July 6.