Category: Sports

How to build the perfect backyard ice rink

For many of us in the Northern Hemisphere, play during the cold months meant a makeshift patch of ice wherever one could find it. A pond or a lake and a shovel would suffice. If you lived close to a town’s outdoor rink, even better – if it was maintained. Best ... read more ››

Cree Hockey News & Notes

Jonathan Cheechoo returns to the pro ranks Moose Factory’s Jonathan Cheechoo has returned to the ice as a member of the American Hockey League’s Oklahoma City Barons, the farm team for the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. Cheechoo, who scored 56 goals in 2005-2006 to win the Rocket Richard Trophy, joined the Barons ... read more ››

Controlled workout?

  At the end of February the sports and recreation department in Chisasibi were victorious in getting a resolution passed that would “give priority” to the department when it came to offering services to the community over groups from outside the community. The Band Council of Chisasibi tabled this resolution after a ... read more ››

2012 Golf Tourney Season

Now that spring is here, hockey season is over and geese are in the air, it is time to polish up the clubs and ptrepare for another great season of golf. The following list provides information on a number of Cree-related golf tournaments taking place across Quebec in the coming ... read more ››

Aboriginal hockey

Think for a moment about December, when Quebec’s Cree gather in Val d’Or for a hockey tournament that represents the Cree Nation’s largest gathering of the year. Now imagine a hockey tournament that not only brings together Quebec’s Cree, but thousands of members of First Nations from across Canada. Now imagine hockey ... read more ››

Cree Hockey News and Notes

  Kapuskasing Flyers Bring Their Winning Ways to Gatineau   The AAA Kapuskasing Flyers of the Great North Midget League finished 2011 on a high note, putting together a combined record of 8-1-1 in both GNML games and games played at the Waterloo Golden Puck Tournament, recently held in Waterloo, Ontario.   There are a ... read more ››

Battling for ice supremacy

For the first time in the 31-year history of the CREE Senior Hockey and Broomball Tournament, two non-Native teams faced off in the tournament’s Class A hockey final. After posting identical records of 3-0 with 13 goals for and 3 goals against, Team Val-d’Or and Bar Chez Frid of Amos ... read more ››

Bruins get the deal done in the Skag

The business of the NHL never stops, even in Waskaganish. While in town as a guest instructor for the True North Wellness Hockey Camp, Boston Bruins prospect Ryan Spooner signed his first professional contract with the NHL’s Stanley Cup champions. Drafted in the 2nd round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft ... read more ››

Better living through hockey

It may have been mid-July, but more than 120 young hockey players who gathered in Waskaganish for the fifth annual True North Wellness Hockey Camp only wanted to get on the ice. Jointly sponsored by Ottawa-based TMSI Sports Management and Ollson Sports Group, the True North Wellness Hockey Camp provides ... read more ››

Cree Summer Games

The Cree of James Bay haven’t seen this kind of summer games in well over 20 years. They used to be held every year during the 1970s right through the 1990s and were also used to promote Cree culture and customs. Now, with the Cree Nation of Waskaganish hosting the summer ... read more ››

Attawapiskat Wins!

The Ontario Cree community of Attawapiskat is overjoyed in what can be described as a holiday miracle. After almost a decade of lobbying, the community finally has a concrete promise for a new school. On Wednesday, December 9, the fly-in only community was finally told by Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl ... read more ››

Who need the Olympics? Though they may not have come home laden in hardware, the Eeyou Istchee’s finest young athletes made their debut at the North American Indigenous Games and a lasting impresison on the world

For the first time since the games inception back in 1990, a delegation of Cree youth made their way to the 2008 North American Indigenous Games in the hopes of bringing back gold in honor of their people. The seven-day event, held in Cowichan, B.C., saw more than 4,500 Aboriginal athletes ... read more ››

Of Hockey Nuts and Broom Balls

One thing that I have noticed about any sport, and hockey in particular, is that the fans are divided, home team versus visiting team. It can be just as dangerous off ice as it is on ice. The stands, when the home team is nearing the goal, deafen the arena ... read more ››

No summer hockey in Abitibi

During a board meeting October 30, Hockey Abitibi-Témiscamingue ruled the organization could ban any AAA players who played summer hockey. The minor hockey group has provided penalties up to and including suspensions for any players that participate in summer league competition before the winter season ended. This also includes participation any ... read more ››

Alouettes host Cree kids – Over 200 jubilant teens take off for space camp, Als game

For the second year in a row kids from Eeyou Istchee were invited to Montreal and Laval to take in an Alouettess game and to check out the Cosmodome Space Science Centre. They learned about zero gravity, the effects of space travel on the astronauts and by the looks on ... read more ››

Fire fighter competition

This year’s Cree Nation Fire Fighters Challenge was hosted by Whapmagoostui with Cree teams from Chisasibi, Eastmain, Waskaganish, Whapmagoostui, and an Inuit team from Kuujjuarapik. In the team challenges for men Kuujjuarapik placed third, just behind Whapmagoostui’s Team I, with Waskaganish claiming first prize. For the women there were two teams ... read more ››

0-J races: pedal power for cash prizes

Ouje-Bougoumou will host a day-long mountain bike competition August 2 with cash prizes on offer for the fastest peddlers. Featuring six open competitions, the event will start at 9 am with the children competing until they reach the minor and senior competitions. For minors aged 13 to 17, the entry ... read more ››

Bears Midget AA Tryouts

The Cree Nation Midget AA hockey club will be hosting a tryout camp for the 2007-08 season August 24-26 at the Sarah Stephen Memorial Arena in Waskaganish. The camp is open to any midget-aged players along with last year bantam from any community within the Cree Nation. For application forms, ... read more ››

Jays and Hawks champs in Fast Pitch Tournament

The Chisasibi Jays overpowered all comers in their community’s Second Annual Invitational Softball Fast Pitch Tournament, winning six straight games in the men’s tourney and capping the championship by shutting down the Eastmain Fireballs July 15 with a final score of 4-0. On the women’s side, the Chisasibi Hawks defeated ... read more ››

Mistissini Basketball Camp a slam dunk – Toronto Raptors put on a clinic for the sport and to promote literacy

Literacy is a key component in the development of a child. Without it, kids feel left out, unable to communicate in an age in which newspapers and online blogs rule. Mistissini’s 2006 Basketball Camp was set up to attack the large problem of illiteracy at the grassroots level in Eeyou ... read more ››

2006 NATIONAL ABORIGINAL HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIPS

The fifth Annual National Aboriginal Hockey Championships (NAHC) was held May 6-13 in the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake and the community of Chateauguay. The community of Kahnawake and its people are to be commended for the great hospitality to the people from across this great land. As with last year, ... read more ››

0-J Midget ‘A’ team deals with tragedy

A talented Oujé-Bougoumou Midget A’ team, also made up of players from Waswanipi and Mistissini, suffered a major blow as they lost one of their supporters in a car crash during a trip to the Inter-regional hockey championships in Farnham. The tragedy was evidently too much to bear as the ... read more ››

Jonathan Cheechoo – Aboriginal role model

San Jose Sharks right-winger Jonathan Cheechoo has finished the NHL regular season with a league-leading 56 goals, winning the Maurice “Rocket” Richard trophy in the process. In doing so, he joins heady company. Philadelphia Flyers right-winger Reggie Leach was the last Aboriginal to score 50 goals, during the 1979-80 regular season. ... read more ››

Waskaganish wins inter-Regionals in Cowansville

Spurred on by their undefeated season and cohesive team chemistry, the Waskaganish Future Wings have proven that when it comes to Atom A hockey in Quebec, they are the best! “We were the heavy favorites going into the tournament,” said coach Charles Hester. “We played against the best teams from each ... read more ››

The new NHL offers lessons far beyond hockey

With about a week to go before the playoffs, this National Hockey League season has been a revelation. Cynicism reigned supreme back in October as the players, badly outplayed by the owners in their contract dispute that wrecked an entire season, finally returned to the ice. But with new rules permitting ... read more ››

Healing our youth through sport

Eeyou Istchee needs individuals like Gordon Hudson in Mistissini. Hudson puts in a tremendous amount of hard work and overtime as Mistissini’s Director of Youth Services with the Cree Health Board. But the best part is he also opens various activities up to all nine communities. I first met him at ... read more ››