A hockey-themed pub night at the Marconi Cultural Event Centre Thursday night aims to raise money for Missanabie Cree First Nation as it prepares to ice a team in an upcoming hockey tournament for Indigenous youth.
The Missanabie Maskwa initially made its debut in the Little Native Hockey League (Little NHL) in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the tournament over the next three years. Coach Dominic Fletcher is now in the process of putting a team together for the 2023 edition of the Ontario-wide tournament, set to take place in Mississauga, Ont. in March.
“The costs are overbearing, especially this time of the year and during the March break,” said Fletcher, speaking with SooToday Wednesday. “To go live in Toronto for four days, and food and gas — it’s very overwhelming. We see that.”
Fletcher is trying to build the team from the ground up after receiving the green light from Missanabie Cree leadership to assemble a hockey team in 2018.
The Missanabie Maskwa had just three registered community members suit up for the team in its inaugural year — Little NHL squads routinely use players from other communities to round out the team if they’re short players — but that number jumped to 11 registered band members for the 2020 team before COVID-19 led to the tournament being called off.
Fletcher has already put out a call for players for the Little NHL tournament in 2024, looking to put together multiple teams in a number of different age categories.
“We’re trying to increase our membership participating in the Little NHL, because it brings in a lot of culture and a really, really good atmosphere,” said Fletcher. “I want to see my community, I want to see more people present.”
Fletcher is also trying to grow the team in a cultural sense by embedding more of his community’s language into future Little NHL teams.
“We do have somebody that’s trying to translate all of our basic hockey team into the Cree language so we can encourage our coaches to use these terms,” he said. “When you get a bunch of kids from four to five [years of age] and they’re showing up at hockey, you say one word then you teach them another word, and next thing you know, after 10 years they’ve learned a few more words.”
The Little NHL has grown exponentially since hosting 17 hockey teams and some 200 players during its inaugural tournament in 1971; its last tournament in 2018 saw more than 200 teams and approximately 3,000 players from across the province take part.
Fletcher, who participated in the Little NHL for years as a pickup player for other First Nations, says he now wants to hand down the experience of playing in the tournament to future generations of Missanabie Cree First Nation members.
“Believe me, if you’ve ever been to a tournament you can see a whole family all crammed into one hotel room. But they’re all happy,” said Fletcher. “A lot of communities are so remote that this is their vacation. This is the one thing that they remember.
“Little NHL is a really, really good experience, and I do feel like it should be shared.”
The Missanabie Maskwa Hockey Pub will feature live music by The Jade Monkeys and a cash bar at the Marconi Cultural Event Centre (450 Albert St. W) from 9 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. Team jerseys will also be available for purchase as part of the fundraising event. Donations will also be accepted.
Attendees are encouraged to wear their favourite hockey jersey to the pub night.
Tickets for the Missanabie Maskwa fundraiser are $22.23 and can be purchased online through eventbrite, with all proceeds going to the hockey team.