The Women's Beantown Classic, had a some prairie representation. The 10th annual hockey tournament took place in Boston Massachusetts over the weekend of July 19-21, 2019.


‘The Beantown Classic is the most highly scouted series of elite hockey showcase tournaments in North America.’


Quinn Dipple of Plenty and Brielle Minish of Herschel made the trip to play as part of the Northern Crush.
The team of highly competitive 2006 and 2007 born girls was coached by Mike Zambon, Randy Smith and Kori Herner who is originally from Kindersley.


Joining our local ladies on the ice were players from Warman, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Moose Jaw and Turtle Lake.


The girls came home with 1 win and 3 losses. Minish reported that although the girls didn’t see much success on the ice, it was a fun weekend of great hockey.


“It was super fast and competitive,” said Minish, “The US teams were all very big, quick and strong on the puck.”


The Crush was in a pool of 8 teams from Boston, North Dakota, New York and two teams from Minnesota. Also, in the pool was another Canadian team, from Ontario, as well as a team called Draft Day. Draft Day was a team made up of players from the US and Canada and included Unity’s Bree Purcell.


Game one of the tournament, the girls fell short against Ontario. The Crush kept it close with the team who took home the gold from the weekend with a score of 3-2 in Ontario’s favour.


Next up they took on a team from New York. Game 2 was a tight one as well and ended with a score of 2-1 for New York.


Game 3 saw the Crush take on Minnesota and the top player in the state ending with a loss of 5-1. The girls saw some success in game 4, and pulled off a win of 5-1 against the other Minnesota team.


Minish who is known for being feisty and unafraid to take a penalty, said she was only in the box once throughout all of the 4 games.


“I think my coaches would say I didn’t pretty good and I brought some laughter to the team,” shared Minish.


Hockey is never too far from Minishes mind or schedule. Beginning in August, she will be lacing up again 3 days a week with practices getting her ready for the high level hockey that is sure to be in her future.