Elsipogtog First Nation deeply touched by Hockeyville experience
Looking forward to growing game for all its people, throughout New Brunswick
© Dave Sandford/Getty Images
This is the belief of the Elsipogtog First Nation people. With Kraft Hockeyville Canada 2021 in the past, a close community returns to their daily lives happier and better equipped to grow the game for all First Nation people and throughout New Brunswick.
One word that describes Hockeyville is unity. Even with more than 630 First Nation communities in Canada, natives and those visiting to Elsipogtog First Nation are one. Roots here are stronger than the oldest of oak trees. Hockey pride supersedes wins and losses when it's for the greater good of the fans. They were eyewitnesses to the Ottawa Senators defeating the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 when Drake Batherson scored at 2:45 of overtime at J.K. Irving Centre on Saturday.
Even with the rebuilding Canadiens losing all eight of their preseason games (0-6-2), coach Martin St. Louis was quick to frame the positive. Wins and losses are the bottom line. An experience some young and old may never experience again is priceless.
"First and foremost, the positive is being with small children, small communities," St. Louis said. "These kids, this is life."
After a long three years because of COVID-19, Hockeyville doubled efforts commemorating 2020 winner Twillingate, Newfoundland, on Thursday and Elsipogtog First Nation. Local rinks were restored, people uplifted, those who left to achieve the highest level of their profession remembering where it started.
NHL official and Bouctouche native Jean Hebert worked the Hockeyville 2021 game in the rink where he was a part of numerous minor hockey games and officiated his final game in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He's stayed loyal to his roots and returns frequently. He said some leave town seeking a new challenge to be their best, and why it's important to know where you come from when inevitable adversity strikes.
"Once you're at the top, sometimes you have tough nights where you have tough games, you get cut from a team or you don't get the assignment you're looking for," Hebert said. "People from your community are there for you all the time. They just want to see how you're doing. They're not talking about all those little details. They're all proud of you. Then you realize you're probably in it sometimes for more than just yourself, but for a community. Through thick and thin, they're always there to support you. Where your roots are and your home is, it's the most important thing in the world."
It was new to 22-year-old Canadiens defenseman prospect Jordan Harris, his NHL experience scoring one goal in 10 games last season. Though he knew about Hockeyville, he had yet to feel it until this week.
"Just being a part of it is so much more special," Harris said. "Just to see the kids come to practice and it's packed for morning skate. We're out there for 30 minutes and it's packed, and that's so cool. Hopefully we can bring something to the community because I know as players, they've touched us."
Touching to local hockey players was skating with Hockey Hall of Famer and six-time Stanley Cup champion Bryan Trottier, of Metis heritage, in an alumni game Thursday, and many others getting to meet him at a community picnic the next day. There's pride in Jocelyne Larocque of Metis heritage being the first Indigenous athlete to play women's hockey at the Olympics, where as a defenseman she helped Canada win gold at the 2014 Sochi and 2022 Beijing Games and silver at Pyeongchang in 2018. There's respect for Everett Sanipass, the retired NHL forward staying in his native Elsipogtog First Nation to serve on the Band Council and be a voice for Indigenous recognition and reconciliation.
They have a bigger platform to achieve those goals. Band councillor Ruth Levi has worked with the children of the community, encouraging them, family members, extended family and members to dream big. Chief Young Eagle Recreation Center used the $250,000 prize money to redesign and reclaim the place where the people played hockey and congregated to talk life and wellness. They must wait an extra 3-4 months for new ice, but it's nothing they can't handle.
They've proven it, organizing the winning Hockeyville 2021 bid after mourning the death of Levi's father, former chief Albert Levi. They stayed strong when popular band councillor and hockey coach Craig "Jumbo" Sock was lost in a boating accident. They will never be denied because Elsipogtog First Nation is Hockeyville.
"I was talking to somebody today and I told him, 'This is half the battle," Levi said. "I wish our arena was open. I guess we had a setback, so now how do we conquer that setback? Where do we find the monies that are willing to finish what we started, and then just keep going. Keep fundraising. We have to keep going for our children."
