Former Leaf Nick Newman all smiles after Brooks Bandits win RBC Cup
By The Nelson Daily Sports
Nick Newman has seen a lot since heading north of the 49th parallel to pursue his junior hockey career.
However, Sunday in Summerside, PEI, the former Nelson Leafs center got to experience the feeling of winning a Canadian National Championship after the Brooks Bandits won the 2013 RBC Cup with a 3-1 victory over host Summerside Western Capitals.
Newman and the Bandits become the eighth team from the Alberta Junior Hockey League to win Canada’s National Junior A Championship, and the first to do it since the Camrose Kodiaks won their lone national title in 2001.
Newman, who spent the 2011-12 Kootenay International Junior Hockey League season with Nelson where he led the Leafs in scoring after arriving during training camp via the Vernon Vipers of the B.C. Hockey League, joined Brooks this season scoring 10 goals and seven assists in 52 games.
Newman, the oldest of two sons of Tina and David Newman of Saugus, California, scored once in 12 playoff games for Brooks.
The 6’1, 185-pound 19-year-old forward joins a handful of other Nelson Leaf graduates to achieve success after leaving the Heritage City.
Leaf rookie of the year Dylan Walchuk won the RBC Cup playing for Vernon Vipers in 2009 and 2010 while Geoff Kinrade captured the 2011 Calder Cup playing for Binghamton in 2011 and recently the 2013 Swiss League title as a member of Bern.
Goalie Grant Rollheiser won a NCAA National Championship playing for Boston University while Nelson Minor Hockey defenceman Isaac MacLeod helped Boston College win the NCAA title in 2012.
Bruno Campese helped Portland win the Memorial Cup in 1983 as a member of the Portland Winterhawks.
