Eye-opening experience for Atikameksheng Anishnawbek left-winger at overseas hockey tournament
By Sam Laskaris
ATIKAMEKSHENG ANISHNAWBEK – Though he is just 12-years-old, Liam-Juelz Nootchtai recently had his first taste of international hockey.
The young Atikameksheng Anishnawbek citizen recently competed at a youth hockey tournament in the Czech Republic capital of Prague.
Nootchtai suited up for a squad representing Draftday International Athletics, a company that ices spring and summer hockey team programs for various age groups. Draftday’s clubs compete at various tournaments not only in North America, but abroad as well.
Nootchtai and his Draftday teammates participated in the World Selects Invitational, which featured AAA players born in 2007.
A total of 16 squads competed in the tournament. Draftday won three out of its six matches.
Its wins were against teams from Czech Republic, Russia and Slovenia.
Trevor Blanchard, Draftday’s director for northern Ontario, coached the squad at the Prague tournament. He was rather impressed with Nootchtai’s efforts at the event.
“I thought he was one of our top forwards throughout the whole tournament,” Blanchard said.
Nootchtai ended up earning three assists in his half dozen tournament appearances.
Blanchard said Nootchtai had a number of decent scoring opportunities, but didn’t get any fortunate bounces.
“He definitely set up a couple of nice plays,” Blanchard added.
Tournament action ran from May 6-9. But the Draftday contingent was overseas from May 3-12. Its itinerary included two days of touring in Germany.
Draftday officials sent out invitations to players from Canada and the United States that they were keen to see represent the organization at the Prague tourney.
The Draftday roster featured 15 players, mostly from Canada and a few from the U.S.
Nootchtai was one of two Indigenous players in the team’s lineup. The other was Averee Sault from Six Nations.
Though players were selected to represent Draftday, families were responsible for their own expenses getting to and from the tournament.
Nootchtai’s mother, Karry Monague, who accompanied her son on the trip, said it cost about $8,000 for her son and herself to attend.
“There was no hesitation,” Monague said. “This was a big opportunity for him and I wasn’t going to deny it for him.”
For Nootchtai, a Grade 6 student at St. James Catholic Elementary School in Lively, Ont., this marked the first time he competed against squads from outside of North America.
“I was just hoping it would be an eye-opener for him so that he could see different styles of hockey,” Monague said.
Nootchtai felt the experience was indeed a memorable one.
“I liked touring and playing with friends,” he said.
Nootchtai, a left winger, had spent the 2018-19 season with the Sudbury-based Nickel City Sons’ Minor Peewee AAA club. For the coming season, he’ll move up and toil for the Sons’ Peewee AAA side, a team that Blanchard will coincidentally coach.
Blanchard believes Nootchtai potentially has a bright future in the sport.
“He’s been identified as an elite player for his age group,” he said. “There’s so many different avenues he could take. But if his development continues, he could definitely end up at least getting drafted by an Ontario Hockey League (OHL) team.”
Blanchard, a 35-year-old from Sudbury, knows what it takes to get to the OHL. During his junior days, he toiled for OHL squads in Owen Sound, Mississauga and Sudbury.