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

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

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Caption: 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.

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Caption: 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.

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Caption: 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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