Anishinabek hockey player helps team win international tournament in Italy
By Sam Laskaris
LITTLE CURRENT—A young Anishinabek player was among those who helped a hockey team win a recent international tournament in Italy.
Kohyn Eshkawkogan, a nine-year-old who lives in Little Current on Manitoulin Island, was a member of the Pro Hockey Development squad that captured the 2007 category at the European Summer Series, an event staged in the Italian city of Bolzano.
Eshkawkogan and his teammates edged the Czech Knights 1-0 in the championship final, which was decided by a shootout, on July 28.
Nine squads participated in the 2007 division at the tournament. Besides the Czech Republic club, the Pro Hockey Development team squared off against entrants from Finland, Italy, Switzerland, Latvia and another Canadian entry dubbed Draft Day.
The Pro Hockey Development organization, which is based in Toronto, operates several spring and summer teams in various age groupings.
In addition to Ontario players, other players who represented the organization in the 2007 age division at the tournament in Italy hail from Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec and the states of Florida and New York.
“Most of those kids had never played together before,” said Eshkawkogan’s father, Kevin, a member of the M’Chigeeng First Nation who served as a chaperone for the Pro Hockey Development squad. “But the coach did a really good job of pulling them together.”
The elder Eskhawkogan, who also has familial ties to the Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation and the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, was rather impressed with the calibre of play at the Italian tournament.
“It was some of the best kids in the world for their age group,” he said. “The Czech Knights play together year round. And they come to North America to play some of the top AAA teams around.”
The fact the Pro Hockey Development side was able to win the championship final was considered an upset because the Czech Knights handily won (7-1) the round-robin matchup between the two sides.
Despite that loss, Kohyn Eshkawkogan, who also has Cree ancestry as his mother Melissa is from Moose Factory, felt his squad could down the Knights in the final.
“But I was very nervous because I was playing with the older kids,” said the youngster, who will soon begin his Grade 5 studies at Little Current Public School.
Eshkawkogan, a defenceman who had two assists in seven tournament matches, was the youngest player on his squad as he was the only one born in 2008.
Chris Malkhassian, who served as the head coach of the Pro Development club, said he was initially unaware that Eshkawkogan was a year younger than all of his teammates.
“It wasn’t until part way through the tournament that I figured out he was an underager when I started to get to know the kids more,” he said. “It was the second or third day of the tournament and I was looking through the program and realized Kohyn was a 2008 player. I wouldn’t have known from any other indications.”
Besides being impressed with his on-ice composure, Malkhassian added he liked the fact Eshkawkogan is from a small northern community and could blend in and mingle with older kids from much larger urban centres.
“It bodes well for his future for sure,” Malkhassian said.
Like countless other hockey-playing youngsters, Eshkawkogan is dreaming big.
“I want to play in the NHL,” he said.
During their trip in Italy, Eshkawkogan and his teammates also had time for some sightseeing when they weren’t playing hockey. Besides touring Bolzano, they also spent a day in Venice and another day in Verona.
Eshkawkogan’s winning ways continued this past weekend at a tournament in Toronto.
He was a member of the team dubbed the 08’ers, which captured the Elite AAA category at the King of the Rings tournament.
Instead of receiving medals or trophies, all members of winning squads at this event, organized by Canlan Classic Tournaments, receiveD a championship ring.