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Pilot program launched
The Moose Cree First Nation will be the first community to benefit from a new partnership. The Ontario government and officials from the Right To Play program have teamed up to promote a healthy and active lifestyle for Aboriginal youth.
They’ve come up with a pilot project dubbed Promoting Life-skills for Aboriginal Youth (P.L.A.Y.). The program will use sport and recreation to develop leadership skills and give youth opportunities that they may not get in their community. The P.L.A.Y. project is based on similar sport and play programs run by Right To Play.
Warriors get new coach
Even before they’ve played their first game, the Akwesasne Warriors are already on their second coach in team history. The Warriors, who will compete in the inaugural season of the Federal Hockey League (FHL), a minor professional circuit, had named Joe Phillips as their first coach this past April. Phillips resigned, however, in late August.
Team president Basem Awwad said Phillips had stepped down because of additional commitments he had acquired with his other job during the summer. Phillips will also pursue a master’s degree this fall. As a result, Mike Piquette was announced as the Warriors’ new coach. He will also be Akwesasne’s general manager. Piquette has held numerous positions with various junior hockey clubs in eastern Ontario in recent years.
The Warriors are scheduled to play their first game on the road versus New York’s Broome County Barons. Akwesasne’s home opener is set for Oct. 30 against another New York-based squad, the Rome Frenzy.
The Warriors are the lone Canadian entry in the six-team FHL. The league also includes two other clubs based in the state of New York—the New York Aviators and the Thousand Islands Privateers. Connecticut’s Danbury Whalers are also in the league.
New inductees
The Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame will be getting a pair of new Aboriginal inductees. Akwesasne’s David Jacobs and James McComber from Kahnawake are among the seven people who are being inducted into this year’s class.
Induction ceremonies will be held on Oct. 16 in St. Catharines at the Quality Parkway Hotel and Convention Centre. The Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame is also located in St. Catharines.
Jacobs will enter the hall as a player. And McComber is being inducted in the builder category.
Jacobs, who was nicknamed Chuggo, was a goalie who played minor, junior and senior lacrosse from the 1960s through the 1980s. He played on numerous championship teams in Akwesasne over the years.
Though he was a goalie, Jacobs had a reputation for having an extremely hard shot. Jacobs won most valuable player awards for his goaltending for four consecutive years, 1977 to 1980, first in the junior ranks with the St. Regis Braves and then at the senior level with the Akwesasne Warriors.
As for McComber, he was nicknamed Jimmy Flo. He started playing lacrosse back in 1945.
In later years he became a coach, manager and owner of various teams. He is often credited for helping to keep lacrosse alive in Kahnawake, his home community.
McComber also helped the sport by making and repairing wooden sticks.
Redden’s future uncertain
Wade Redden may have played his final National Hockey League game. The 33-year-old defenceman, who has Métis ancestry, was waived by the NHL’s New York Rangers during their training camp.
No other NHL club was willing to pick up Redden from the waiver wire. No doubt that was in large part because of the $6.5 million salary that he was earmarked to earn from the Rangers this season. Redden has four years remaining on his current contract with the New York franchise, but the Rangers’ brass has not been thrilled with Redden’s play during his two seasons in the Big Apple.
Redden, who was the second pick over-all in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, played 11 seasons with the Ottawa Senators before he joined the Rangers. He had a career-high 50 points (10 goals, 40 assists) in 65 games during the 2005-06 season with the Senators.
During the past two seasons with the Rangers, however, Redden’s stats were disappointing. He had 26 points, including just three goals, in 81 games during the 2008-09 season. And then this past season he had a measly 14 points (two goals, 12 assists) in 75 contests.
Redden could end up playing in the minors—something he hasn’t done during his 13-season pro career—with the Rangers’ American Hockey League affiliate in Hartford. Or he could be bought out by the Rangers, allowing him to ink another NHL contract, presumably with a considerably less lucrative deal.
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