Youth take to the ice for minor hockey tourney

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Rinks in Prince Albert, Saint Louis and Birch Hills hosted some fantastic hockey from March 24 to 28, during the fourth annual Red Earth Owen Head and Orville Nawakayas Memorial Aboriginal Minor Hockey Tournament.

Forty teams from across Saskatchewan joined six teams from Manitoba in the annual contest, which saw a number of closely matched contests on the ice.

"It was one of our better tournaments," said Leo Arcand, one of the tournament organizers. "We saw some excellent hockey over the four days, right from pre-novice up to midget. Many of the scores were very close and some of the pre-novice games had to be decided by shoot-outs."

The tournament was established in 2000, the year in which two of Red Earth First Nation's hockey enthusiasts passed away. Orville Nawakayas coached atom and peewee teams and Owen Head was a peewee player. Both were involved in sports year-round, recalled Jonas Head, cousin to Owen and a perennial volunteer at the tournaments. "As soon as hockey season was done, they'd start golfing."

The weather at the outset of this year's tournament seemed better suited to swinging golf clubs than shooting pucks, and the possibility existed that ice surfaces could deteriorate.

"After the opening ceremonies and the first three games in East End on Wednesday night, it was plus five Celsius," said Arcand. "By Thursday morning, though, it had cooled right off."

Conditions were fine by the time pre-novice finals were held at the East End community rink in Prince Albert. In A side competition, the final saw Wahpeton defeating the Shoal Lake girls, while on the B side the Shoal Lake boys defeated Red Earth to earn top spot.

The novice finals also took place at the East End rink, with Pelican Narrows defeating James Smith on the A side and Red Earth winning over the Shoal Lake boys on the B side.

Saint Louis was the scene of the atom finals. The A side winner was Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) over Meadow Lake, while the B side title went to Junior Thunder, comprised of players from Beauval and Buffalo Narrows, who went up against a team from Grand Rapids, Man. in the final.

The peewee finals in Birch Hills saw Little Red River beat out the Saskatoon Tribal Council in an A side match-up and the Agency Chiefs Tribal Council win over Stanley Mission on the B side.

The PAGC took top spot in the bantam Afinal, also held in Birch Hills, defeating Little Red River. The B side champs were Pelican Narrows, who won the final against Red Earth.

Fort a la Corne defeated PAGC in the midget A final in Saint Louis, while Shoal Lake took the midget B title in a battle against Red Earth.

For the first time in the tournament's history, opening and closing ceremonies were held, with prayers by Elders and drummers playing victory and honour songs at centre ice. After the closing ceremonies in Birch Hills on March 28, Elmer Ballantyne of PAGC thanked the parents for their efforts.

"We do this to make sure we keep our kids busy and active so they stay away from drugs and alcohol," Ballantyne said.

But for Shoal Lake's Dellisa Flett, who tended goal for PAGC at the tournament, it's all about the love of the game.

"Hockey is just more fun than any other sport," said the bantam player, who is in her second season with Team Saskatchewan and will be going to the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships in Prince George in late April. "It's also given me the chance to meet a lot of different people."