The Alberta Junior Hockey League's Brooks Bandits are doing their best to ensure no one steals their chance to make history.

The current AJHL champions are used to winning on the country's biggest stage, winning in 2019, when they were hosting the event, and in 2022, when they traveled to Estevan, Saskatchewan, to go back-to-back. Neil Fraser has been a Bandits season ticket holder for 15 years and a member of the board of directors for five. He says the first few days in Portage have been great.

"I was a little bit surprised by the size of the city," explains Fraser. "I expected something smaller, but there's lots of stores, there's lots of shopping, the people are nice, and the rink is beautiful. It looks like the rink is fairly new. It's comparable to the one from Brooks. So far, it's been awesome."

He mentions that he worked as security for the 2019 championship, so he's looking forward to taking in this year's event as a fan. Fraser notes he's had plenty of fans from the event ask him about the Bandits, leading to some great conversations.

"The Bandits are here for a reason," says Fraser. "We have a mission this year, we're looking to go back-to-back-to-back and be the first team in Junior Hockey history to do that."

The Brooks Bandits currently sit at 2-0 and will take on the Timmins Rock from the NOJHL at 3:30 p.m. on Monday.