The 2024 Manitoba Summer Games are set for Dauphin this week with plenty of local talent set to compete for provincial glory.
On the hardwood, Team East Region U17 enters the tournament with a budding roster almost entirely made up of Interlake players.
Stony Mountain’s Jake Bourcier is one of Team East’s players making their Manitoba Games debut this year.
The 16-year-old Stonewall Swarm star point guard is coming off a season where he helped the Swarm go undefeated and win the 2024 Winnipeg Minor Basketball Association championship.
He is now excited about the opportunity to represent Stonewall and Interlake on a bigger stage.
“It’s incredible,” said Bourcier. “This experience is really good for kids our age, especially going out there and winning for our region would be amazing. It means a lot for me.”
Bourcier is joined on the team by many other players he has played with or against.
One of them is 15-year-old Edward Futz of Stonewall, who plays forward for the Manitoba Magic in the winter season.
For Futz, he too is entering his first Manitoba Games as one of the youngest members on Team East’s roster.
He hopes their performance in Dauphin will help Interlake cement its position as one of the best basketball markets in the province.
“It’s really cool because our region isn’t really known for basketball,” said Futz. “It’s cool to show our best players. I’m excited to play the Winnipeg teams because they have some of the best players in the province and that’s going to be fun.”
Head coach Alex Barra and assistants Enriq Barra and Sonny Sylvester staff Team East.
They will compete in the three-team Pool B, which includes Team East, Team North, and Team South, while Pool A includes Team Winnipeg Gold, Team Winnipeg Blue, Team West #1 and Team West #2.
Team East’s tournament began Aug. 12 at 2:30 p.m. at Parkland Recreation Complex against Team South before taking on Team North in the evening to wrap up the round-robin.
On Tuesday, Aug. 13, Pool A and B joined up for the playoff round, which included placement games that evening and the bronze and gold medal games on Wednesday, Aug. 14. No scores were available before press time.
Team East features a 12-man roster and three practice players who have been together since early May.
In July, Team East got its first taste of tournament competition when it played three exhibition games against Team South, which it lost 1-2.
Since then they have held multiple intrasquad matches and team workouts.
“It’s been intense this whole season leading up to it,” said Bourcier. “Right at the end we’ve been practicing really hard whether it’s set plays or individual stuff. The whole season we’ve been doing conditioning workouts so lots of cardio and core.”
Last week, the club completed its last few days of preparation before heading to Dauphin on the weekend.
Their entire roster includes Joshua Shedden – St. Andrews, Garrett Gburek – Selkirk, Dietrich Redekopp – Victoria Beach, Malakai Boville – Stonewall, Foxx Domansky – Stonewall, Owen Kwiatek- Selkirk, Edward Futz – Stonewall, Jacob Bourcier Stony Mountain, Patrick Yuzwa – Broad Valley, Nazar Khlyvniuk – Libau, Wyatt Mitchell – Stonewall, Jackson Campbell – Selkirk, EJ Rioux – St. Laurent), Shane Bomberak (Gimli), and Reece Forman (Selkirk).
