Trail native Riley Brandt has made an immediate impression on the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Paladins athletics.
Brandt was named RMC Athlete of the Week at the Kingston, Ont. college after scoring a goal in each of the hockey Paladins first three games. Although, the Paladins are still searching for their first win of the season, Brandt has made an impact, scoring the lone goal in a 7-1 loss to McGill University Redmen to open the season, and adding his second in a close 5-4 setback to University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) last week.
But Brandt’s third goal of the season against Laurentian University was a highlight reel, end-to-end rush where the former Beaver Valley Nitehawk picked up a pass in his own end, flew around the defencemen, broke to the net and deked the goalie for the lone goal in a 2-1 loss.
Both skilled and physical, Brandt committed to RMC after finishing his BCHL career as captain of the Vernon Vipers, where he played three seasons. His best was a 31-points in 53-games campaign in 2015, in which he also racked up 104 penalty minutes. Brandt also played 33 games for the Trail Smoke Eaters, before rejoining the Nitehawks in 2014 and was key to helping B.V. to the Cyclone Taylor and Keystone Cup championships.
The Paladins play in the East Division of the 20-team Ontario University Athletics (OHA). The OHA is part of Canadian Inter-university Sports (CIS).
