More Than a Game: Musket Supports the Tristan Kettles Cup

The annual tournament honours the memory of Constable Tristan Kettles #3680, who served with Peel Regional Police and as a Corporal with The Lorne Scots (Peel, Dufferin and Halton Regiment) Pipes & Drums before his life was tragically cut short at just 25 years old. The tournament was created by Tristan’s friends and platoon mates following his death in 2017 and has since become an annual tradition. The 2026 event marked its ninth year.

For Musket Transport driver Dean, a retired Peel police officer and long-time friend of Tristan’s family, it’s a tradition he has been part of from the beginning.

“I’ve been involved from the beginning because of my relationship with Jim and his family,” Dean explained. “As the sponsorship became involved in my relationship with Musket, I thought it’d be a good way to see if Musket was able to help out, and they’ve been very generous ever since.”

After Tristan’s death, his platoon mates wanted to find a way to remember him that would bring people together. Softball turned out to be a fitting choice, even if Tristan himself wasn’t much of a softball player.

Tristan’s friend and former colleague Matt attended police college with him in 2013 before the two were assigned to the same shift. According to Matt, Tristan was someone who would try just about anything and, more importantly, someone who loved bringing people together. The tournament now accommodates 32 teams and has become a yearly gathering for police officers, First Responders, friends, and family.

It has also become a significant fundraiser. Matt estimates the tournament has raised over $100,000 since it began.

One of the organizations supported by the tournament is Boots on the Ground, an Ontario-based charitable organization providing confidential, anonymous peer support for First Responders 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The organization is staffed by volunteers, including serving and retired First Responders who understand the unique challenges that can come with the job.

It’s a cause closely connected to the values at the heart of the tournament: supporting the people around you. Those values were also a defining part of who Tristan was.

Matt remembers Tristan as someone who would be the last person in the report room at the end of a shift, making sure everyone else had finished their work and didn’t need help before he went home.

“He always made sure that everyone else was taken care of, and that nobody got left behind or forgotten,” Matt said.

Tristan’s father, Jim, spent 36 years as an officer with Peel Regional Police. He remembers regularly seeing his son arrive home late because he had stayed behind after his shift to help a colleague do paperwork or put a case together.

In the spring of 2017, that dedication was recognized when Tristan received the Officer of the Year award for 11 Division. For Jim, the most meaningful part was those who had chosen him for it.

The nomination came from Tristan’s peers.

Nine years later, many of the officers attending the tournament never had an opportunity to meet Tristan.

This year, Jim took the field alongside members of 11C, Tristan’s former platoon. Many of its current members never worked with Tristan, but through the tournament they get to learn something about the history of their shift and the officer who came before them.

Jim reflected on what made Tristan a standout member of the police service.

“My son had really an incredible work ethic, that was honestly born from the satisfaction that he got out of doing his job, helping not only other people in the community, but also helping his colleagues.”

He recalled one evening when Tristan arrived home unexpectedly late because an officer on the afternoon shift needed help preparing a court package. For Tristan, Jim explained, that sort of thing was simply normal.

To the tournament attendees, “He loved the job. He loved his colleagues. And you folks meant everything to him.”

Musket Transport has been proud to help keep that tradition going.

Musket has made monetary donations to the tournament for the past two years and supported the event for even longer by providing the complimentary use of a refrigerated trailer to transport and store food for the tournament.

And behind the wheel is Dean. Along with participating in the tournament, Dean volunteers his time each year to transport the food. For a retired police officer who worked with Jim and has known the family for years, it’s considerably more personal than any other delivery.

The tournament gives Dean an opportunity to reconnect with former colleagues while supporting a family and community that remain important to him.

Now that he has retired from policing and moved into professional driving, he sees another connection between his two careers.

“In a career like policing, or my new career [professional driving], where we’re so caught up in the functionality of what it is we do, it’s kind of a moment that brings back the importance of what really matters, and family and relationships, and looking out for each other as human beings.”

During the tournament, Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich looked across a crowd of more than 400 participants and reflected on what it means that so many people continue to gather nine years later.

Some knew Tristan well. Others never met him. But all of them were there because one person made an impact on the people around him, and because those people decided his impact shouldn’t end with his passing.

The tournament keeps Tristan’s name and stories alive while turning his legacy of helping others into tangible support for organizations serving First Responders and the wider community.

Perhaps the simplest explanation of what the tournament represents came from Jim himself during his interview.

“Be kind to one another. Look after each other, pay it forward,” he said. “No matter how small it might be, help your neighbours, help your friends, look after each other, watch out for each other.”

Nine years after Tristan’s passing, hundreds of people are still doing exactly that. Musket Transport is proud to be among them.