In a first, six different First Nation communities from Fort St. James up to Houston put together a hockey team comprising of kids from all these communities.
Trevor Williams, head coach of Dayee Yez Atom team, said kids from Lake Babine Nation, Tl’azt’en Nation, Cheslatta Carrier Nation, Binche Keyoh, Nak’azdli Whut’en and Métis Nation British Columbia, came together to form a team.
Dayee Yez Atom team placed second in the Nicola Valley Junior Aboriginal Tournament, held from March 21 - March 23, in Merritt, B.C. This was their first competition as a team.
“It is not common that six nations will reunite like this to play hockey. Usually, each nation would bring their own team down and for us it was a great experience that all these six nations came together. Because after hockey the parents would meet up and gel together and talk about the whole hockey season,” Williams said.
Williams said they formally started training at the end of November. Williams and assistant coach Phillippe Lacerte are from Lake Babine Nation, and the community sponsored the team’s ice time.
“We really didn’t know at first that we did develop a team when we started practicing. So we were just sitting there one day thinking how we would start a team. We just wanted to make a team for the kids right and we realized this is it. These are the kids that show up to practice and all their parents show up too, so there was dedication from both sides and that’s how it came about,” Lacerte said.
The young players woke up at 5 am, Williams said, to drive up for practice to Burns Lake. Kids drove from as far as Binche Keyoh, which is over an hour’s drive, he added.
“So that is how much dedication we had from these kids,” he said.
Williams recognized their goalie Chace Aslin as an all-star player amongst others.
“There was a lot of hype around Chace as there aren’t a lot of First Nations goalies and a lot of teams were coming by and talking about him and asking questions about him. It made us proud that we had him on our team,” he said.
Another player who works really hard is Max Playfair, Williams noted. Other players including Brody Williams, Josiah Lacerte and their only female player Kaylee Levick did phenonemally too, he said.
“Kaylee is our only female player and she is pretty elite. She pulls her weight and she does really awesome. I think it’s necessary to recognize that. I think in my head all our kids are all-star players at this age group. They all played hard. It takes a team to develop an all-star player and our kids played really hard over the past weekend,” Williams said, adding the team played five games in 24 hours.
He said they could have placed first, but the players ran out of stamina by the end of the tournament.
The team’s second game is in Prince George on March 29, where they are going to be participating in the All Native Hockey Tournament. Williams said, the team is also looking to go to Edmonton for a spring hockey tournament in May, to wrap up the season.
He said, as a new team they are looking for sponsors to cover entry fees, hotel accommodations and more.
As for challenges, Williams said the biggest one was to make it affordable for the players and their parents.
“As a non-profit organization, we try to pay for the tournament and all the parents chipped in and worked hard to see raffle tickets. That helped us pay for hotel rooms as well. So yeah, we have a strong core group of parents and kids that are willing to work as a team which is great,” he said.
Lastly, the team would like to thank their sponsors — Carrier Sekani Family Services, Cheslatta Carrier Nation, Burns Lake Community forest, Tla’zt’en Nation, Lake Babine Nation, Burns Lake Native Development Corporation and the Prince George Cougars.
“We would like to thank all the parents as well including the Playfairs and the Aslin’s for allowing their kids to come play with us. We enjoy our time when they are with us. And I know the kids are going to be looking forward to next year and we are definitely going to be bigger than this year,” Williams said.
Aman Parhar
Editor, Vanderhoof Omineca Express
aman.parhar@ominecaexpress.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter