High hopes for all-Native tourney

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The plan this year was to have teams from as far away as northern Ontario make the trip to Prince George for the fifth annual All-Native Youth Hockey Tournament.

Organized by the United Native Nations - Local 112, this year'?s tourney used five ice surfaces and attracted 34 teams from around British Columbia. Out of province teams were listed in the preliminary schedule, but as the three-day event began on March 31, it was all teams from within the home province who took to the ice.

Ben Berland is a member of the board that organized the tournament. He's also active as a coach, looking after the Prince George Duz Cho Logging Bantam team that knocked off the Doig River Falcons to claim the bantam championship on April 2. Berland, of Cree and Dakelh (Carrier) ancestry, also coaches the Prince George Pee Wee AAA team. The 31-year-old is passionate about hockey and about giving something back to the game he loves through coaching and working behind the scenes to make the All-Native a top knotch annual gathering. The team he assembled for the tournament featured several talented prospects, most notably Gary Gladue, a smooth-skating defenceman with a booming shot, who as a 15-year-old has already put in some time with the home-town Prince George Cougars of the Major Junior Western Hockey League.

"Sometimes, a lot of the times, these guys are the only Aboriginal kid on the team, so you can see they enjoy this tournament. It's nice for me, too," said the nine-year veteran of the minor hockey coaching scene.

Dean Gladue, another board member who made time to coach (the tournament champion Prince George Pee Wees) told Raven's Eye the committee went to great lengths to include all players of Indigenous heritage. Gladue, the RCMP North District drug awareness officer when he's not at the rink, sees the tournament as a place where young players can enjoy the game and learn more about their heritage.

Taking time from her hectic schedule during the tournament, UNN - Local 112 executive director Carla Wallis, another board member, said the board was pleased and proud to offer competitive schedules and - quite rare at minor hockey tournaments - a developmental schedule for players who aren't quite ready to play at the competitive level.

In all there were 15 developmental teams and 19 competitive teams in the five age groups represented from tyke to bantam.