Sports Briefs for February 2016

New BC Aboriginal Awards

Aboriginal youth athletes in British Columbia now have a new achievement to strive for. The Aboriginal Sport Recreation and Physical Activity Partners Council and the Province of B.C. have joined forces to establish a new awards program.

A total of 12 Premier’s Awards for Aboriginal Youth Excellence in Sports will be handed out annually, starting this year. There will be six female and six male recipients each year.

Those under 25 are eligible for their awards. The program does not simply honour those with athletic achievements.

Other factors that determine the winners include their leadership qualities and commitment to higher education. The selection committee will also take into consideration how much the award nominees serve as role models, both on and off the field of play.

Besides being under 25, in order to be eligible for the Premier Awards, nominees must have Aboriginal ancestry (First Nation, Metis or Inuit), have lived in B.C. for at least the past 12 months and also be registered with a provincial sport organization or involved in a Partners Council program.

Those selected as recipients for the inaugural awards will be honoured at a ceremony in Victoria, held in conjunction with the Gathering Our Voices Aboriginal Youth Conference set for March 21 thru March 24.

Nicholls Toiling For Wolf Pack

Former junior hockey star Josh Nicholls continues to plug along in the minor leagues hoping he’ll eventually be called up to the National Hockey League.

The 23-year-old Metis is in his third season of pro hockey. He’s currently a member of the American Hockey League’s Hartford Wolf Pack.

Nicholls, who is from Tsawwassen, B.C., had a stellar junior career with the Western Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blades. He spent five seasons with the Blades, from 2008 through 2013.

He had a career high 87 points (34 goals, 53 assists) in 71 games during his third season in Saskatoon. And during his final year with the Blades he notched a career-high 47 goals and a total of 85 points in 71 contests.

Nicholls concluded his junior career on a relatively high note, participating in the 2013 Memorial Cup with the host Blades. After posting a 1-2 round-robin mark, Saskatoon was eliminated from further play when it lost a tie-breaking contest to determine tournament semi-finalists.

Though he was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Nicholls did not sign with the organization. He eventually inked his first pro deal with the New York Rangers in 2013.

Since then he has spent time with Rangers’ affiliated teams in the AHL and East Coast Hockey League.

This season Nicholls has bounced around between the Wolf Pack and the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits, a club based in South Carolina.

He had registered 21 points, including 10 goals, in 29 games with the Swamp Rabbits. And he had earned three points (one goal, two assists) during his first 11 games in a Hartford uniform.

Mississauga Hosts Tournaments

The city of Mississauga, located just west of Toronto, is gearing up to host two prestigious Aboriginal hockey tournaments.

For starters the Little Native Hockey League tournament, which is more commonly called The Little NHL, will be staged March 14 to March 17.

And then the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships (NAHC) will be held from May 2 to May 7.

The Little NHL tournament, which includes girls’ and boys’ teams from across the province, will feature 15 divisions this year, ranging from Tyke through to Midget.

This year marks the 45th running of the tournament. And it will be the fourth consecutive year that the event will be staged in Mississauga.

A record 178 clubs participated at last year’s event.

During its early years the tournament was primarily held in various northern Ontario communities. But since the event has expanded greatly, a location with numerous arenas and nearby hotels is now required to host the tourney.

Four different facilities will be utilized for matches this season, including the Hershey Centre, which is the home of the Ontario Hockey League’s Mississauga Steelheads.

As for the NAHC, it is an event featuring provincial or regional bantam and midget-aged female and male players.

The tournament has been staged annually since 2001. But this marks the first time it will be held in Mississauga.

Matches will be staged at Iceland, a facility that features four ice pads, including an Olympic-sized rink that has a seating capacity of about 1,200.

Sixteen teams (eight female and eight male) participated at the 2015 NAHC, which was held in Halifax. Saskatchewan captured the gold medal in both the girls’ and boys’ divisions.