Regina to host Aboriginal hockey tournament

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The Queen City will once again play host to an Aboriginal hockey tournament when the inaugural Oskana Cup is held March 3 to 5 in Regina.

This is believed to be the first Aboriginal tournament held in the city for five years.

Tournament chairman Milt Tootoosis is pleased Native hockey is returning to Regina.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Tootoosis was an organizer of the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College Cup, which ran for six years.

Others have staged Aboriginal tournaments in Regina since then, but those events did not continue on.

"Regina has been off the radar screen for some time," Tootoosis said.

There seems to be a Native hockey tournament every other weekend during the winter months in one of the Prairie provinces but there isn't one during the March 3 to 5 period.

"We thought we'd fill that void," he said.

Tootoosis is hoping between 24 and 30 clubs will participate in the Oskana Cup. The event will feature three divisions.

The highest calibre grouping will be a senior men's contact division, featuring players 16 and up. There will also be a masters (35 and up) division as well as a women's division.

Former National Hockey League star Reggie Leach has been named as the honorary chairman for the tournament. Leach, who played 13 seasons in the NHL, is best known for being a member of the Philadelphia Flyers. He also played for the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings and the California Golden Seals.

Leach broke the 50-goal barrier twice while playing for the Flyers, including in the 1975-76 campaign when he netted a career high 61 goals.

Leach will also play in the tourney, suiting up for a squad dubbed the Regina Urban Tribe, a masters team that Tootoosis will also toil for.

"The community is very excited about bringing him here," Tootoosis said. "And it's not just the Native community but non-Native fans as well. There's a lot of old Flyers' fans around here, especially the baby boomers who were Broad Street Bullies fans."

Leach, 55, is eagerly anticipating the Regina tourney.

"I think it's great," Leach told Saskatchewan Sage in a phone interview from his home in Newark, Delaware. "Any time I get invited to these events, it's a great honour for me."

While in Regina, Leach is expected to give several talks to different groups about drugs and alcohol. Leach, a recovered alcoholic who has been sober for 20 years, speaks frequently about his own alcohol abuse.

Leach admits he has not played as much hockey as he would like to have in recent seasons.

"I've been out of circulation for a few years," he said. "But I hope to do a lot more events like this. I love mingling with people."

Leach has maintained his ties to hockey by serving as an assistant coach for a high school team in Newark.

"I do get on the ice with them once in awhile," Leach said. "But I'm a little slower now."

Leach expects opponents at the Oskana Cup to enjoy suiting up against him.

"I think it's really fun for the players that play against me," he said.

It is expected the majority of the participating clubs in the Oskana Cup will be from Saskatchewan.

"We'll get players from Manitoba and Alberta," Tootoosis said. "But we'd like to get (entire) teams from there."

Tournament games will be held at the Sherwood Twin Arenas, which has a seating capacity of about 1,000.

Tootoosis had hoped to stage the tournament at the Brandt Centre, home of the Western Hockey League's Regina Pats. But that rink, which has a capacity of more than 6,000, is unavailable this year due to preparations required to host the Brier, the national men's curling championships.

More information about the Oskana Cup is available by calling the Regina Indian and Metis Friendship Centre at 525-1518.