Fred Sasakamoose blazed a trail to the NHL

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As a number of teenage Aboriginal hockey prospects looked forward to their time in the professional spotlight while they waited to hear their names called during the various selection drafts last month, they were no doubt reminded by parents and grandparents that they should remember to take a look back to a time when the path they're following was being cleared by the men who made it all possible.

It is, after all, an important part of their culture to honor the Elders.

Fred Sasakamoose is the undisputed trail-blazer of Aboriginal hockey. Now 63, Sasakamoose was the first Aboriginal person to play in the NHL.

From his home on the Sandy Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan, Sasakamoose said he is happy that more and more younger Native players are pursuing their hockey dreams.

The climb to fame isn't always an easy one, he cautioned. His own, short-lived shot at hockey fame started out with difficulty.

"It was a little tough for me," he said. "But at the time it was 1949."

Attitudes toward Aboriginal people were different then, he said, especially toward those who were trying to enter mainly "white man" areas.

Leaving Sandy Lake, after playing on the provincial Midget champions, his first stop was with the Moose Jaw Canadiens of the Western Canada Junior Hockey League. In those days, the Canadiens were a farm team of the Chicago Black Hawks.

At first, he had trouble fitting in in Moose Jaw.

"Although I was a pretty good hockey player, I still got dressed in the corner," he recalled.

At only 15, and the only Aboriginal person on the team, he said it took a while before he could really feel he was part of the team. Throughout the toughest times, it was his love of the game that kept him going, Sasakamoose said. He just wanted to play.

His ability caught the eye of scouts from the Chicago Black Hawks, and by the 1953-54 season he was playing for the NHL team.

Stepping onto the ice for that first game against the Detroit Red Wings is something he says he will never forget.

"It was a tremendous feeling. You look up at the balconies, there was like three stages up there. The Moose Jaw Arena was only for 2,000 people. Here, when I skated onto the ice it was something great."

Getting $100 for each game and each exhibition performance was a small fortune for a young man who had grown up on a poor reserve and spent most of his life in a residential school.

The money in his pockets and the fame he was receiving started to go to Sasakamoose's head, the former pro admitted. He says he started to drink and he took his fortune for granted. And after that first season in Chicago, he returned to Sandy Lake and didn't do much. By the time training camp rolled around he was out of shape. He failed to crack the Chicago line-up in the season that followed, getting sent down to New Westminster, then Calgary, then to Kamloops in semi-pro regional leagues. He never made it back to the NHL.

Looking back, he isn't bitter about how his hockey career went.

"Sometimes I wish I could go back, but I wouldn't trade it because I love the way I am."

A rough start in residential schools, being "cooped up" on the reserve and being a celebrity for one glorious season in the big league has helped him grow and develop.

"It offered me a good life. It gave me the greatest opportunity for any man, not just an Indian man," he said.

For young players these days it is a little easier, he said. There is a lot more interaction between Aboriginal communities and non-Aboriginal communities. The kids all play hockey together.

"It's a different story all together now (for Aboriginal players). They're competing with the outside world starting with the little kids," he said.

As time went by and attitudes changed, more and more Aboriginal players made places for themselves in the history of hockey: Jim Nielson, George Armstrong, Reg Leach, Dale McCourt, Stan Jonathan, Ted Nolan, Chris Simon and so many others followed Sasakamoose's lead and made theirown contributions.

They are all willing to tell the coming generations of professional hopefuls that whatever success they had was the result of hard work, dedication and a great love for the game.