North-south split tears at junior hockey ethos By: Niigaan Sinclair Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, Oct. 26, 2018

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/10/2018 (2289 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The mission of Hockey Manitoba — the governing body of amateur hockey in the province — is to provide “a positive hockey experience for all participants, in a safe, sportsmanlike environment,” according to its website.

Among its goals, the organization believes “in hockey opportunities for all people, regardless of age, gender, colour, race, ethnic origin, religion or socio-economic status” and “the promotion of teamwork, and the belief that what groups and society can achieve as a whole is greater than that which can be achieved by individuals.”

This mission statement is being tested.

Since 1977, the Keystone Junior Hockey League (formerly the Manitoba Junior ‘B’ Hockey League) has been offerring players between the ages of 16 and 21 the opportunity to continue their hockey dreams. The lone junior ‘B’ league in the province since 2004, the KJHL winner advanced to the Western Canada championship tournament, the Keystone Cup.

For the 2017-18 season, the league operated with 10 teams, five in the “south” (Selkirk, St. Malo, Arborg, Lundar, north Winnipeg) and five in the “north” (Peguis, Fisher River and Cross Lake First Nations, Norway House Cree Nation, and Opaskwayak Cree Nation).

The ‘B’ is not the NHL. It’s often for players who haven’t made the major junior leagues (Western Hockey League, Manitoba Junior Hockey League) but still have a passion and love for the game.

For small communities in Manitoba — particularly First Nations — it’s the best hockey in town, and one of the only tickets for entertainment.

In many ways, junior ‘B’ has been the face of hockey for “rural Manitoba.” (When I was growing up, the Selkirk Fishermen often outdrew the junior ‘A’ Selkirk Steelers — mostly because they featured local players instead of imports from Winnipeg. I liked watching my friends and relatives play, and so did most everyone else.)

This summer — citing the high costs of travelling and safety concerns in the wake of the Humboldt Broncos hockey bus tragedy — the five southern KJHL teams decided to go their own way, founding the Capital Region Junior Hockey League.

The first reason — high cost of travel — is what is called a red herring (something that distracts from the real issue). For years, the five First Nations teams had been paying travel costs for the five other teams (after they complained about bus costs, food, and hotels).

Simply put, the five southern teams had a free ride for years. What they paid was their time. Time thousands of other hockey players (any sport, for that matter) across Canada routinely give, riding the bus for hours to play games. It’s part of being in a league that claims to represents a province or a region.

The issue around safety and the Humboldt tragedy (16 died and 13 were injured in the April 6 collision) is understandable, but following that logic would result in the end of the WHL and MJHL.

No one is nervously closing down in those leagues. So there must be another reason.

Here’s one told to me “off the record”: KJHL teams in the south have complained for years their players have jobs, or whatever, and can’t make long bus trips to games. This results in shortened benches for northern-based games and, it is presumed, more losses.

This isn’t true. In 2017-18, the southern Selkirk Fishermen finished with a record of 28-3-3. In the playoffs, the Fishermen had a shortened, 12-player bench, and beat Cross Lake at home 6-4 in the quarter-final series-winning game.

So, if shortened benches are not the problem, what else could it be?

How’s this: Peguis has won the past three league championships. A southern team hasn’t won since the Fishermen in 2014 and 2015.

Or, also “off the record”: southern teams often face passionate, involved and loud, sold-out arenas of northern fans. Usually once a season, a game turns into an ugly situation.

Well, welcome to Manitoba and hockey culture. I played tiers 3 and 4, and that happened in Transcona.

Throughout the summer, the five northern KJHL teams lobbied Hockey Manitoba to stop the five southern teams from pulling out.

“It was a big surprise for everybody,” Peguis head coach Michael Spence told the newspaper Windspeaker.

The bigger surprise came in the fall, when the southern teams quietly approached top players on northern squads — and offered them roster spots.

Teams like Peguis soon found their bench depleted. Fisher River couldn’t get enough players for a team. Organizers in Nelson House tried to start a team and also failed to find enough competitive players.

The KJHL announced it would not begin play until November — nearly a month after the CRJHL began its season.

Reportedly, players didn’t even try to secure official releases from their northern teams. “That’s pretty upsetting as well,” Spence told Windspeaker. “They know they have to get their proper releases… We’d definitely take players from anywhere now.”

The four remaining teams of the KJHL start their season Nov. 1.

Meanwhile, the CRJHL has moved on. Organizers have started negotiating with organizers of the Keystone Cup to have their league represented in the Western Canada championship.

And where, in all this, is Hockey Manitoba?

Initially, the governing body said the new league would not be certified. In September, in time for its first games, Hockey Manitoba certified the CRJHL.

So much for “a positive hockey experience for all participants” and “hockey opportunities for all people regardless of age, gender, colour, race, ethnic origin, religion or socio-economic status.”

“The promotion of teamwork” should be removed from Hockey Manitoba’s website.

Apparently, anyone can take their puck and go home, if they don’t think we’re all in this together.

niigaan.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca

Niigaan Sinclair
Columnist

Niigaan Sinclair is Anishinaabe and is a columnist at the Winnipeg Free Press.

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