Troy Brister named 2023 Neepawa Sportsperson of the Year

By Eoin Devereux Neepawa Banner & Press

In a season filled with both team successes and individual accolades for his players, Troy Brister has recently received a little bit of well deserved acknowledgment of his own. On Friday, Mar. 3, the NACI Tigers hockey coach was named the 2023 Neepawa Sportsperson of the Year.

The award is handed out annually to a person or people who have had a positive impact to the sporting landscape in and around our community. The award recipient was unveiled during the Neepawa Area 15th Annual Sports Dinner, held at the Yellowhead Hall.

Interestingly enough, the announcement of this year’s winner had to be delayed ever so slightly, as Brister and the Tigers were on the other end of the building playing the deciding game of the first round series in the Westman High School Hockey League playoffs. Neepawa ended up winning that game and advancing to the next round of the Championship bracket.

After the game concluded, the players, parents and supporters of the team brought Brister over to the Hall for the announcement, which was a surprise to him. The team leadership group, which consists of Ward Brister, Jory Kulbacki, Rylan Sumner and Tarek Lapointe, made the announcement of Troy’s receipt of this year’s honour. In their prepared speech, they commended Brister for his dedication to the program and, more importantly, to bettering the players both as athletes and as people.

After receiving his award, Brister stated that he was completely blindsided by the acknowledgement and was at a loss for words. After gathering his thoughts, however, Brister did thank the team, his fellow coaches and the families for their support of the program throughout the years.

In speaking with the Banner & Press a few days after the award, Brister was able to expand upon his comments further.

“I was very surprised and honoured to be this years recipient of this award. It really means a lot to be nominated by such a great group of players and to hear them speak about what being part of this team means to them is very humbling. Coaching is really more than wins and losses and I try my best to instil this in the players I get to coach. It has always been my hope that any player I coach ends the year learning more than just hockey skills,” said Brister. Brister, along with Kelvin Hollier and Dale Swanton, started the high school hockey program in 1998. After a five year stint, Brister stepped away to focus on coaching his three children through Neepawa Minor Hockey. Then in 2019, he returned to the high school program and has co-coached the team with Mike Adams. The coaching staff for this season consists of Brister, Adams and assistant coaches Chris Sitko and Chris Kulbacki.