Little NHL to host inaugural fundraising golf tournament in September
By Sam Laskaris
MANITOWANG—The long-running Little Native Hockey League (LNHL) tournament is still a couple of years away from celebrating its milestone 50th anniversary.
But officials from the tournament, more commonly known as the Little NHL, are still busily preparing for that historic event in 2021.
Those preparations include gearing up to stage the inaugural LNHL Alumni Golf Classic. This event is scheduled to be held on Sept. 15 at the Rainbow Ridge Golf Club in Manitowang, a community located on Manitoulin Island.
The Little NHL executive typically awards hosting rights to its tournament to a community that has submitted a bid to stage the prestigious event.
But the Little NHL executive itself has already announced it will host the 2021 tournament, which will be held at various locations throughout Mississauga.
Debbie Debassige, the president of the Little NHL executive, said it is not too early to start raising funds for the 2021 tournament.
“We want the 50th [edition of the tournament] to be huge,” she said.
Just like the host communities who host the youth tournament do, Debassige said the Little NHL board will be seeking a number of sponsorships when it stages the 2021 event.
Debassige said several sponsorships are required since the tournament cannot survive simply on entry fees.
“All of the registrations costs don’t cover the expenses of the tournament,” she said.
Debassige said tournament organizers have purposely kept the registration fee per team ($600) as low as possible in recent years as they are aware communities and families incur several other expenses while attending the event.
Stan Kapashesit, the newest member of the Little NHL executive, said talk of holding a fundraising golf tournament popped up a few months ago. That talk morphed into a reality as executive members agreed to proceed with the event at its most recent board meeting this past weekend in Sudbury.
“We realize it is kind of short notice,” he said. “We’re hoping the weather will be nice and people will come out to support it.”
Kapashesit spent the past two years as the chair of the host committee from the Moose Factory-based Moose Cree First Nation. Though it served as hosts of the 2017 and ’18 Little NHL tournaments, the First Nation based in northern Ontario held both of those events in Mississauga.
At this year’s tournament this past March, it was announced Kapashesit would be joining the Little NHL executive board.
He’s hoping as many people as possible now get on board for next month’s golf tournament.
Though individuals are welcome to enter (the registration fee is $200 per person), ideally organizers are hoping to secure four-person teams at $800 each.
“Obviously the more the merrier,” Kapashesit said of the amount of funds organizers are hoping to raise from this inaugural golf tournament. “Ideally, it would be nice to get something between $5,000 and $10,000.”
And even though the first golf fundraiser is still a couple of weeks away, indications are it will also be held in future years.
“There are plans to grow the tournament already,” Kapashesit said.
Members of the Little NHL executive tossed around the idea of possibly hosting a pair of fundraising golf tournaments in 2019, one in northern Ontario and one in southern Ontario.
“We have yet to decide that from the board level,” Kapashesit said.
Former National Hockey League star Reggie Leach, who lives in Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation and has been an avid supporter of the Little NHL over the years, has agreed to participate in next month’s golf tournament.
Kapashesit is hoping to be able to name other celebrities in the near future who will be also taking part.
Those looking for more information on this year’s tournament can contact Kapashesit at (705) 266-5674 or via email at stan.kapashesit@moosecree.com