Host Wiikwemkoong will represented at Little NHL tournament
By Sam Laskaris
MARKHAM – Many teams feel some pressure participating in the Little Native Hockey League, which has become Ontario’s largest First Nations youth hockey tournament.
But Curtis Fox, the head coach of a Wiikwemkoong Islanders U-11 mixed (girls and boys) club, said his charges, who are competing in this year’s event, often simply called the Little NHL, have some additional pressures.
That’s because the Islanders are one of 27 clubs from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory participating in the 2026 Little NHL tourney, which began on Sunday and continues until Thursday.
Wiikwemkoong is serving as the host First Nation for this year’s event, which has attracted a record 271 clubs from across the province. The majority of tournament matches are being held in Markham but rinks in nearby communities are also being utilized.
Fox said his team is indeed feeling the pressures to succeed at the Little NHL since Wiikwemkoong is hosting the tournament.
“There’s a lot of pressure,” Fox said on Tuesday morning, after his squad had registered a convincing 16-0 round-robin victory over Kenora’s Rat Portage Lil Braves. “Everybody is watching you and they’re ready to point a little bit of this and that.”
For Fox, this marks his fifth year of coaching at the Little NHL. His son, Reginald, is a right winger with the Islanders.
Fox also coaches a Manitoulin Island select under-11 boys’ team during the season.
And he’s not surprised that Wiikwemkoong is icing a large number of clubs at this year’s Little NHL.
“The popularity is insane,” he said of the sport in the First Nation. “There’s been a boom recently with more kids being interested in the game. And the development has come a long way in the past seasons, which I think has helped encourage the kids to show up.”
Fox also offered additional thoughts on why he believes Wiikwemkoong’s hockey participation numbers are on the rise.
“I guess it’s just a good feeling of community coming together, being part of a team,” he said. “Not everybody gets to experience that. I think that’s something that the kids are lacking a little bit, but coming forth and putting their best efforts in hockey has really helped them along.”
The Islanders managed to win all four of their round-robin matches at this year’s Little NHL tourney. Those results earned the club a spot in the quarter-finals entering action on Wednesday.
Fox was not caught off guard by his club’s early successes at the tournament.
“We did have high expectations coming in,” he said. “I mean some of these kids have been playing together for like three or four years. So, they know each other well and they’ve built chemistry.”
The majority of the players on the Islanders’ roster are from either the Wiikwemkoong minor hockey system or the Manitoulin Panthers’ organization.
Most of those on the club’s roster are also Wiikwemkoong members. But the Islanders’ lineup also includes one player from Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation and one from Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation.
The Little NHL tournament has a rich history. This marks the 52nd year the tournament has been staged. The inaugural Little NHL was held in Little Current in 1971. Just 17 teams participated at that historic event.
The tournament has been staged annually since then except for three years (2020-2022) when the COVID-19pandemic forced its cancellation as it was deemed unsafe to host a large gathering.