Initiation category included in Little NHL tournament

By Sam Laskaris

STOUFFVILLE – You’ve got to start somewhere.

And for many of the youngest Indigenous youth participants in the Little Native Hockey League tournament, that start is the Initiation category.

This grouping, for those seven and under, features a total of 41 clubs this year at the tourney, often simply called the Little NHL.

A record 245 clubs are participating in this year’s event, which began on Monday and continues until Thursday. The majority of games are being staged at rinks throughout Markham, but all of the matches for the Initiation grouping, held Monday and Wednesday, were at the Stouffville Clippers Sports Complex.

All of the Initiation squads, some of which featured players as young as three, played six games. Each contest was 30 minutes of running time.

Ice pads were divided into two rinks and teams only played on one half of the ice where no scores were kept.

“It’s great for the kids,” said Doug Rideout, who served as the head coach of one of the two Chippewas of Rama First Nation entries in the division. “It gives them that step in the direction that they want to go, wherever hockey wants to take them.”

Rideout said Rama’s recreation department did offer a hockey program for the community’s youngest members this season. But some of those that competed in the Little NHL did not take part in the community program.

“It’s also good for the kids that don’t get a chance to play,” said Rideout, whose 6-year-old son named Douglas was a member of his team. “Now they get this opportunity.”

The elder Rideout was pleased to see the large interest from Rama from those players eligible for the Initiation division.

“We actually have two teams,” he said. “We had so many kids sign up, so that’s great. We have 11 skaters on this team and one goalie. And the other team had the same amount.”

Rideout said those players on his squad that are in their first season of hockey have made giant strides during the 2023-24 campaign.

“From the start of the year they have come so far,” he said. “Some kids weren’t able to skate. It was their first time on skates and now they’re bombing around so it’s great.”

And would the highlight of their year be playing in the Little NHL?

“For sure it would be,” Rideout said.

He added the event was the first tournament ever for many of his players.

“There’s a few players on the team that also play hockey in Orillia so they would play in other tournaments,” he said.

The Little NHL is celebrating its 50th season this year. It has become the largest Indigenous youth tournament in Ontario.

Meanwhile, Kiki Pelletier, the step-daughter of one of the tournament’s founders, Jim McGregor from Whitefish River First Nation, volunteered as a rink manager at this year’s event. Her duties included overseeing the Initiation action at Clippers Sports Complex.

“I have my grandson playing and what I see is that it’s a lot about being part of a team, being from your community,” Pelletier said of the age grouping. “You’re out there and it’s their first big tournament in their lives for most of them. Some of them aren’t regular players but they come out to play together.”

And it’s all about having fun.

“We don’t try to push winning or losing,” Pelletier said. “We try to just make sure they learn about sportsmanship, they learn about being a good person representing their community. Even as small as Under-7 children.”

All participants in the category receive the same championship medal.

“We want to make sure that they know just being part of the Little NHL and part of a team and coming out to a tournament, they’re champions just by being there,” Pelletier said.