This year’s edition of the Brick Invitational Hockey Tournament was a full-circle moment for Kyle Okposo.
The 37th Brick Invitational Hockey Tournament, a week-long summer staple played annually at West Edmonton Mall, attracts many of North America's top U10 players, including over 200 current and former NHL players.
This year, Okposo, who played in the tournament nearly 30 years ago, coached his son, Odin, and his Team Minnesota squad to a Brick Invitational championship. The tournament featured 14 teams, seven from Canada and seven from the United States.
“It’s definitely a highlight,” said the 38-year-old, who works for the NHLPA as head of player marketing. “I tend to not really understand how big things are in the moment. I try to stay present and enjoy what is going on. But in this one and as I have gotten older, you understand the moment on a larger scale.”
The 7-2 win in the championship game produced a series of firsts, including Odin being named to the First All-Star Team, Kyle and Odin becoming the first father and son to represent Team Minnesota at the tournament and the first Brick Invitational title for a team from the State of Hockey.
“I never thought I would coach, but about three practices in, after I was done playing, and I was helping out, I realized that I wanted to do this,” said Okposo, who won the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers in 2024, his final NHL season as part of 1,051 regular season NHL games.
“It was a ton of fun to coach a team with a ton of talent and really teaching them about playing the game, offensively and defensively, and just playing as a team. To watch them grow over the summer, how teachable they were – that was a lot of fun to see that come together in this tournament, how well they played.”
Okposo’s phone worked overtime soon after the final buzzer.
“A lot of messages,” he said with a laugh. “The amount of people who reached out to me about this tournament and still follow it because they played in it and had a great experience was really eye-opening for me. There were former teammates, retired players, guys I played with growing up in Minnesota. Johnny Toews, who is a good buddy of mine, Anze Kopitar was there coaching, Jack Eichel, Josh Doan, Jack Hughes – a bunch of guys who follow this tournament. It’s part of the hockey ecosystem.”
Kopitar, a two-time Stanley Cup champion who retired in April after spending all 20 of his NHL seasons with the Los Angeles Kings, also served as an associate coach for his son Jakob’s Western Selects team.
“It was electric,” Kopitar told NHLPA.com. “What a great experience for the kids. The tournament is organized to the highest level I’ve ever seen in a youth tournament.”
Established in 1990, the Brick Invitational has seen some of the NHL’s most recognizable names take part, a long list that includes current players like Auston Matthews, Sidney Crosby, Connor Bedard, Macklin Celebrini, Mitch Marner, Steven Stamkos, Cole Caufield and Jack Hughes.
“The volunteers at the Brick do such a phenomenal job of making it special, making it feel like the biggest tournament in the world for these kids,” said Okposo. “The atmosphere in the mall is exceptional. You get random people stopping by and they look and see a hockey game going on. As the tournament gets deeper, you see the number of people watching growing.”
Standing behind the bench brought back a myriad of Brick Invitational memories for Okposo.
“I took a step back and thought back to when I was 10, and what that experience was like, seeing the pure enjoyment from the kids.”
The seventh overall pick of the New York Islanders in the 2006 NHL Draft also saw himself on the big screen during one of his son’s games.
“They showed a clip of me during this championship game, playing in the tournament. I was such a bad skater. I joined the team a couple weeks before the tournament, so my name isn’t in the program because I joined the team so late.”
As for who possessed more talent at age 10, himself or Odin, Okposo didn’t hesitate.
“I will say my son is a lot better skater than I was. The skill level of these kids is so much higher than I ever witnessed at that age. Talking to some of the younger guys who play in the NHL now, they say the same thing, that they can’t believe the skill level of these 10-year-olds.
“My son can handle the puck. He’s smart, to where I was much more of a bull-in-the-China-shop, putting my head down and just go, go, go. My son is much more cerebral, reads the game and makes plays, much to my chagrin. He’s a fun player to watch.”
Seeing it all unfold at West Edmonton Mall almost didn’t happen.
Thanks to a huge assist from a familiar face, it did.
“I was not on board with going,” said Okposo. “My wife convinced me to let Odin play. I think he has literally watched every single game of this tournament the past two years, and he’s been begging me to go. I am really glad my wife convinced me and I got to share this experience with my son.
“It will be something we always remember.”
