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Hockey school is about life and not giving up

Meredith Kerr Journal Staff For the second year in a row “3 Nolans Hockey School” came to Saddle Lake to work with youth aged seven to 15 on the ice at the Manitou Kihew Arena.
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Craig McDonald

Meredith Kerr
Journal Staff

For the second year in a row “3 Nolans Hockey School” came to Saddle Lake to work with youth aged seven to 15 on the ice at the Manitou Kihew Arena.

Former Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders coach Ted Nolan came with former NHL players Brandon Nolan and Cody McCormick to show the kids that people from indigenous backgrounds have played in the NHL. Because this weekend’s school took place during the regular hockey season, the third Nolan, Jordan, who is under contract with the St. Louis Blues, wasn’t able to attend.

Ted Nolan and his sons are from the Garden River First Nation in northern Ontario. McCormick comes from the Chippewa of the Thames First Nation in southwestern Ontario.

“We’re not trying to create the next hockey players, it’s just a way to let the kids know that if they work, whatever endeavour they want to do, they can achieve it,” said Ted Nolan.

“Hockey is the trick to get them here, but then we talk about the important things on the ice, about life, about not giving up. A lot of kids from communities like this, they have to leave home to pursue schooling, to go to high school or college, and sometimes it’s not too welcoming an environment,” he said.

Remembering his own youth, Nolan reflected on being homesick and not having friends when he first left home at 16. He said he cried himself to sleep every night for the first several months.

“And then towards the end of the year, I made some friends where I was actually at. So I think it’s just an understanding of people and knowing that we’re all the same and we all have feelings and emotions, and we’re all from families, and we’re all a lot more alike than not,” said Nolan.

Shannon Crane was the local organizer for the weekend camp. She said she hopes to see it happen again next year.

“If I can keep getting sponsors, then we’ll keep bringing them back as many times as people want them to come back,” said Crane.

A total of 33 kids participated in the school, a number impacted by minor hockey, “because there were so many games scheduled this weekend so a lot of those kids weren’t able to come,” said Crane.

DJ Makokis coaches the girls’ minor hockey team, which is new to Saddle Lake this year. Many of his players participated in the hockey school.

“It’s always been all about the boys. My girls, they’ve always been playing with the boys since they were pre-novice,” said Makokis. “Now I’ve got the support from the community. We are going to have our own jerseys and we’ve got our ice time, and now it’s just getting them to work extra hard."

Sunshyne Lapatak, 9, has been playing hockey for five years. She thought the camp was good because it had “hard drills.”

“Sometimes they’re challenging for me,” said Lapatak. She said it was exciting to have NHL players come to Saddle Lake.

Saturday ended with a pizza party in the new fire hall for all the kids. Ted, Brandon, and McCormick took turns eating their slices of pizza while the other two autographed what seemed to be every hockey jersey and baseball cap the kids owned and posed for pictures.

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