Skating Ducks have five of a kind on team

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Mackinaw comes up with the big save. The rebound goes to Mackinaw who skates up to centre ice and dishes the puck off to Mackinaw. Mackinaw fakes a pass to Mackinaw on left wing, instead passing to Mackinaw on the right wing. Mackinaw shoots! He scores!

How can a player be in five places at the same time? Well, how about if it's five players, all on the same team, all in different positions and all from the same family?

Meet cousins Steven, Al-Joe and Mike and brothers Marcel and Jack Mackinaw. The five Erminskin First Nation members are all playing Bantam level hockey for the Winfield Mighty Ducks.

The Ducks finished in third place at the March 19 to 21 Bantam provincials held in Lac La Biche, and the five time duplication of the Mackinaw name in the tournament's program raised more than one eyebrow.

"They think we are all brothers or triplets or something like that," said 15-year-old Steve, who plays centre and is one of three captains. "We get that a lot," he said.

All five live in Buck Lake, about 50 km out of Hobbema and 20 minutes from Winfield in central Alberta. All five are in Grade 9 at Buck Mountain Central School.

"I'd like to go on to play college hockey," said Steven, who has been skating since he was four and looms over his opponents with his 170 lb., 5'11" frame.

Steven enjoys playing with his cousins because there's always a friendly face near him and that makes it more comfortable for him, he said.

Mike agrees. The 15-year-old defense man said having close family members out there helps ease a lot of the pressures of the game.

"Playing with family feels better. When you are down in the game they can give you support," he said.

And family support is very important to the Mackinaw boys. When a player is asked who his role model is, Wayne Gretzky, Theo Fleury or Curtis Joesph may come to mind, but not for Mike.

"My dad," Mike said quickly. "He's very supportive."

Mike's cousin Jack benefits from the combined support of his on-ice family every game. While his other family members aren't always skating on the same line, as the goaltender, Jack gets to share the ice with all of them through three periods of play.

While all the boys have good friends on the team, there's something special about playing with your family, said Jack.

"It's good to have someone there to really talk to," said 16-year-old Jack.

Although soft-spoken, Jack enjoys sports because it gives him the opportunity to speak to other people and make some new friends.

"I get to meet a lot of people," he said. At the provincials I met lots of people."

Jack started playing hockey at the Atom level, which is when all the Mackinaw boys started playing together. But the blocker and the glove weren't what the 16 year old always wanted to wear. He started out on defense, but opted for the goalie job because it looked like that's where the action was.

Now, the 5'6" young man, who weighs in at 155 lbs., believes his best quality between the pipes is his fast glove.

Jack also has fast hands in his favorite class in school which is industrial arts. He likes making things and just finished crafting a knife to use when he goes out hunting.

Jack's brother, Marcel is the hard shooting left winger on the Ducks team. At 14 years old, Marcel is the youngest of the five. This is his first year playing at the Bantam level, but he wasn't nervous about it. The family connection helped.

"It makes me feel comfortable," he said. "It's like I'm not alone."

This is also the first time Marcel has been to a provincial level tournament and what a tournament it was. Although the Ducks lost to Lac La Biche in the semi-finals, the game was believed to be the best of the weekend.

The Ducks came back from a 10 to five deficit with just seven minutes to go in the game, but they lost 10 to nine when the whistle blew. "It was a tough loss," said Marcel.

"I couldn't believe we lost," he said. "We came from behind from so far."

"I'm happy with how we played," said Al-Joe. The Dcks will be back next year to win back the title. "We'll train hard in the summer," he said.

The training brings all the boys together to play baseball or football or to bounce-ercise on the trampoline at Mike's house.

Each of the boys hopes to continue playing hockey for years more and each wants to keep skating alongside their relations.