Thunder Bay to host annual Little NHL tourney

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The 31st annual Little NHL Hockey Tournament is being hosted by the Fort William First Nation in the Thunder Bay area on March 10 to 14. This is the largest Native hockey tournament for youth in Ontario and is one of the longest running in Canada. This year marks the first time that the tournament will be held so far north. For the past six out of eight years the tournament has been held in Sudbury, but it has also been held in Brampton and other communities in southern Ontario.

Registration so far is slow. As of Jan. 29 there were 68 teams registered. Last year in Sudbury, a record 112 teams participated in the tournament. The decision was made at last year's tournament to hold this year's event in Thunder Bay to help accommodate the kids from that region of the province.

Tournament organizer, Roger Charlie of the Fort William First Nation, said distance should not be a factor.

"For the past 15 years we've sent seven teams annually to the Little NHL tournament, wherever in the southern part of the province it happened to be held. We are committed to our kids and that means we make sure they get there no matter what. In fact, each year it has cost our band about $70,000 more than we had allocated. But we feel that this is a small amount compared to what it means to our kids to attend this tournament.

"Many of our children have made important friendships with kids from other First Nations communities in Ontario and this annual event is important to them because they get to renew these friendships. The Little NHL is about kids and teaching them good sportsmanship, fairness and commitment. I would hate to see this tournament cease to exist because of a lack of commitment or the fact that other communities decided for the first time this year to also hold hockey tournaments on the same weekend as the Little NHL."

If you are interested in registering your children's hockey team for the Little NHL Hockey Tournament, contact Roger Charlie at (807) 476-4505 or for more information check out their Website at: www.fwfn.com/littlenhl