Elimination of hockey franchises big loss to Cree Nation, officials say

SASKATOON A First Nation northeast of Saskatoon is reeling after the Saskatchewan Hockey Association voted to eliminate its two long-standing boys’ hockey teams and award the franchises to other communities.

That decision will be a blow not just to Beardy’s & Okemasis Cree Nation, but also young Indigenous hockey players across Saskatchewan, say two people affiliated with the Beardy’s Blackhawks

“The Beardy’s Blackhawks, we represent the First Nations of this province,” Blackhawks Minor Hockey Association (BMHA) spokesman Rick Gamble said on Wednesday.

“It means a lot to our First Nations in the province. A lot of these First Nations kids would never get a chance to play anywhere else,” Gamble said of the Beardy’s midget AA and midget AAA teams.

Beardy’s Blackhawks manager Mel Parenteau, who has spent two decades with the club, said the opportunities to play on another midget AAA team wouldn’t have been there for many First Nations teenagers.

“They would never have had a chance,” said Parenteau, who, like Gamble, expressed deep disappointment in the SHA’S decision to award the franchise to Warman, about 60 kilometres to the south.

The SHA announced Tuesday that both the AA and AAA Beardy’s teams would move for the 202021 campaign following a review in which each of the 12 clubs in the league was asked to reapply for its position.

The Notre Dame Argos also failed to make the cut for the 2020-21 season, while the SHA awarded new teams to Warman and Estevan.

According to a Nov. 12 memorandum published on the SHA website, that task force considered multiple criteria to determine the best location for each team and then made its recommendations to the SHA’S board of directors.

SHA general manager Kelly Mcclintock said a broad review of minor hockey began three years ago, and all midget AA and AAA teams in the province have known for two years the league would be effectively restarting.

The applications were judged based on the presence of a “strong minor hockey program” and billeting and education opportunities for players.

“I understand their disappointment. But we had to make a decision, what we see as best for all of hockey in the province,” Mcclintock said.

In a news release issued Wednesday morning, the BMHA described the AAA Blackhawks as a “one-ofa-kind” franchise, the only team in the country that’s located on and operated by a First Nation.

“In this era of reconciliation, this team should be a point of pride, and a flagship franchise for a sport’s governing body like the SHA,” BMHA president Jason Seesequasis said in a statement.

The AAA Blackhawks have been in place for 25 years, the AA Blackhawks even longer.

Mcclintock said there is no way to appeal a decision made by the association’s board, and that it won’t be revisited.