Little NHL to be co-hosted in 2025 by three First Nations
By Sam Laskaris
CHIPPEWAS OF RAMA FIRST NATION – The 2025 Little Native Hockey League tournament will indeed be a team effort.
It was officially announced this past Saturday that three First Nations will join forces to co-host the tournament, which is often simply called the Little NHL.
The co-hosts will be those that make up the Chippewas Tri-Council: Chippewas of Rama First Nation, Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation, and Beausoleil First Nation.
The dates for next year’s Little NHL have been set with the opening ceremonies being held on Mar. 9, and the tournament action running from Mar. 10-13.
As was the case this year, the tourney will be primarily staged at various rinks throughout Markham. And because of the large number of participating clubs expected in 2025, rinks outside of Markham will in all likelihood be used again next year as well.
This year’s tournament, which marked the 50th anniversary of the event, attracted a record 245 clubs from across the province.
The Little NHL, which was first held in 1971 in the Manitoulin Island town of Little Current, has become the largest Indigenous youth hockey tournament in Ontario.
The tournament was originally supposed to celebrate its golden anniversary a few years ago, but that did not happen because the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the tourney for three consecutive years from 2020 through 2022.
Tournament representatives opted not to count those cancelled events in the official tally of Little NHL celebrations.
The Little NHL has been awarded to various hosts since its inception, but none of the three co-hosts for next year’s event have previously served as hosts.
“It’s something that we’ve thought about for a while now,” said Chippewas of Rama First Nation Chief Ted Williams. “And this is a big deal for us to host with our sister communities.”
Traditionally, Little NHL officials announce the host Nation at their event each year, but that didn’t happen at the tourney this past March since the hosts for 2025 had not been selected yet.
Chief Williams said he was approached by members of the Little NHL executive at this year’s tournament and asked whether his First Nation would be interested in serving as hosts.
“I thought this was a good opportunity to involve Georgina Island and Beausoleil,” Chief Williams said. “Without question, both of their Councils said, ‘Yes, let’s do it.’”
Chief Williams is confident that his First Nation and the two others will do a fabulous job of hosting the 2025 tourney.
The official signing of the hosting contract was held on Aug. 24 during a ceremony at the Rama First Nation Pow wow. The pow wow was one of two major events the First Nation hosted this past weekend. Rama also hosted the All Ontario Native Fastball Championships.
“The Little NHL is just another opportunity to showcase what our community can do,” Chief Williams said.