Nova Scotia

Camp to honour 'selfless and generous' Nova Scotian who died in boating accident

A basketball camp beginning Monday evening in Halifax will honour the life of a former Nova Scotia basketball player who lost his life this spring in a boating accident in British Columbia.

'He was someone that all young basketball players should look up to,' says camp co-organizer Jacob Sheffar

Andrew Milner of Antigonish, N.S., played basketball for the University of Calgary Dinos. (University of Calgary Dinos)

A basketball camp beginning Monday evening in Halifax will honour the life of a former Nova Scotia basketball player who lost his life this spring in a boating accident in British Columbia.

Andrew Milner grew up in Antigonish, N.S., and played for Rothesay-Netherwood School, a prep school team in New Brunswick. The guard went on to play at the University of Calgary.

In his rookie university season, his team won the U Sports national title. In March, the Dinos lost in the national final in Halifax to the Carleton Ravens.

Milner played for two Basketball Nova Scotia teams that won back-to-back national under-17 championships. Several of his teammates from those teams have agreed to come to Halifax to be camp instructors.

Jacob Sheffar is one of the organizers of the Andrew Milner Skills Academy. (Paul Palmeter/CBC)

"Andrew was truly selfless and generous and was a national champion three times," said Jacob Sheffar, a basketball player at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax. "He was someone that all young basketball players should look up to. He was a really hard worker and coachable."

Sheffar is one of the organizers of the camp, the Andrew Milner Skills Academy. He said all proceeds from the camp are going toward a scholarship in Milner's name.

Calgary Dinos' Andrew Milner, second from right, leaps to put up a shot in front of the Saint Mary's Huskies' Nevell Provo during the second half of quarter-final action in the U Sports men's basketball national championship in Halifax on March 8, 2019. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press)

Many of the top boys high school basketball players from Nova Scotia will attend the four-day camp at the Homburg Centre at Saint Mary's University.

In late April, Milner, 19, was canoeing with a Dinos teammate on a lake near Cranbrook B.C., when their boat capsized in frigid water. Milner's teammate managed to make it back to shore, but Milner did not.

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