Coach opens door

Page 23

Like most other Junior hockey coaches, former pro player Barry Tabobondung is anxious to climb up the hockey ladder.

Tabobondung, 36, is an assistant coach with the Couchiching Terriers of the Provincial Junior A Hockey League. The 22-team Junior A Tier II circuit is a step below the Ontario Hockey League, which is considered one of the top feeder systems for the National Hockey League.

An Ojibway who lives on the Parry Island First Nation, Tabobondung also has a dream he'd like to see fulfilled. He hopes there will one day be a Native hockey team competing at the Winter Olympics.

"I'd like to discuss it with somebody that has some weight," he said. "I believe that day is coming and hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. I'd really like to be a part of it whether it's coaching or helping with the recruiting of the team."

For now, Tabobondung will concentrate on his duties with the Terriers. The franchise, which previously played out of Orillia,Ont. moved into a new $6 million arena on the Rama First Nation this season.

It's Tabobondung's fourth season of coaching. He began his coaching career as an assistant with the Parry Sound Shamrocks of the Northern Ontario Junior A Hockey League during the 1994-95 season. Midway through the following season he became the head coach and also took over the general manager's portfolio.

Tabobondung obviously didn't mind a demotion though when he opted to join the Terriers this season.

"I really wanted to work on a First Nations team," he said.

The Terriers have only one Aboriginal player, goaltender Ken Decaire. There has been some speculation an Aboriginal group would buy the Terriers and turn the club into a Native-owned and Native-run franchise with a considerably higher number of Aboriginal players.

With the Shamrocks, Tabobondung's teams had about a half dozen Native players per season. Though he said all the Native players earned their spots on his clubs, he does admit to having had a special bond with them.

"I have that special feeling towards our people," he said. "I don't want to get into the history of it but we've had a tough go over the last 500 to 600 years."

Tabobondung spent six seasons as a pro. Three of those years were with the American Hockey League's Maine Mariners. He also spent a year in the International Hockey League with the Peoria Rivermen. And he toiled for two seasons with the Erie Blades of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League, which is now known as the East Coast Hockey League.

Over the years he has heard about some Aboriginal junior players who believe they have been discriminated against. That's one of the reasons why there was a large Aboriginal contingent at the Shamrocks' camps in recent years.

"I just wanted to give them a fair opportunity to play Junior hockey," he said. "It's not as if they were going to get the easy way in. I just wanted to give them an opportunity to play."