Game On Magazine 2017 Game On Magazine - Regular Season Edition | Page 54

THE WINNIPEG JETS
CHALLENGE CUP
THE LUCKIEST
MAN IN THE WORLD
B Y S C O T T TAY L O R
Photos by Bruce Fedyck
D
ean Court makes
no bones about it.
He calls himself,
“The luckiest man in
the world.” “Really,
I am the luckiest
man in the world,” said
the Business and Amateur
Hockey Development and
Program Manager at the Bell
MTS Iceplex. “I get to work
in hockey in Winnipeg at a
time when the Moose and
5 4 | G AME ON | R EGU L A R SEASON ED ITION 2018
Jets are playing great. We
have built a pre-eminent
hockey tournament with the
Winnipeg Jets Challenge Cup;
our end of season Moose
Minor Hockey tournament is
a huge hit and we have now
added The Winnipeg Jets AAA
Classic and AA Showdown.
All this in addition to our
Jets Hockey Development
programs we do our best
to provide a great hockey
experience for everyone. This
is awesome. I’m so lucky.”
Court is the point man on
a group that includes Monte
Miller, Dustin Madrigga,
Haley Kirkbride-Taylor,
Jackie Cairns, Ted Szypowski
and Jessica Rosenbaum –
the people who help make
the annual Winnipeg Jets
Challenge Cup hum along
from start to finish.
And this past December, the
Challenge Cup tournament
delivered another home run.
What started as a 30-team
House League event in 2011
has grown into a 19-division
hockey extravaganza with
more than 120 teams.
“The 2017
tournaments not
only included
teams from Winnipeg,
but from all the regions of
the province, plus Regina,
Edmonton, Flin Flon, St
Albert, Fort Francis, Sweden
and the USA, as well as
many others,” Court said.
“And as soon as it was over,
we were all back to work on
the Manitoba Moose Minor
Hockey Challenge which we
run in March. It never stops.
We already have interest
in the 2018 Winnipeg Jets
AAA Classic from Finland
and I’ve spoken with teams
in St. Louis and Dallas. We
will never have more than
16 teams in a division, but
we are working very hard to
make this tournament similar
to the highly-regarded Mac’s
Tournament in Calgary.”