MARKHAM—No wonder everybody who meets Ted Nolan likes the guy.
The Garden River-born former NHL player and coach was talking to a packed dining room at the luxurious Hilton Toronto/Markham Suites Conference Centre and Spa Saturday night.
He was saying exactly what the crowd needed to hear, which was, the Little NHL hockey tournament is life changing.
As a kid, the former Detroit Red Wings player and Buffalo Sabres coach competed in the Little NHL and though he said he couldn’t remember too much about those early games, he does recall one Alvin Manitowabi from Wiky having such a powerful slapshot that Nolan’s older brother, a goalie, “stepped away from the net” to avoid being hit.
At that time, 44 years ago, the Little NHL tourney took place in Espanola. “It changed me as a young man and created a lifestyle for myself. This tournament was a turning point for me. It was the first time in my career that I felt a part of the community.”
“Getting into the major leagues was not the important aspect of this thing,” Mr. Nolan added. “The most important aspect of this thing is to teach good decision making and good citizenship.”
The speech was one of many at the pre-tournament banquet Saturday. The event started Sunday and ran to the following Thursday.
This year, the City of Markham is host, with 245 registered teams (38 of which are women) and approximately 4,000 players. Five hundred and seventy four games will be played in 12 arenas. Players range in age from seven to 17 and came from all over the half a million square miles that comprise Ontario. Two of the first people I ran into were Patrick and Rylee Kipling, a father/daughter duo freshly in from Kenora. They’d had to drive to Winnipeg to catch a Toronto flight. Pat Madabhee, who until very recently was acting president of the Little NHL, said some players actually started their trek to Markham, back in their homes, on snowmobile.
But also significant—and the reason for the extraordinary hoopla this year—is that 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the tournament. In 1971, the Little NHL, now a household reference on Manitoulin, had its genesis at the old arena in Little Current, with a total of 17 teams from the local Indigenous communities competing. (The math doesn’t quite work because of the COVID interruption.)
As Mr. Madahbee recounted, in ’71 he was too old to play but participated by reffing—all of the games.
“I think we got paid with hot dogs and hot chocolate,” he laughed, adding “and Lloyd McGregor cleaned all the dressing rooms.”
Soon as more teams were invited, the competition outgrew Little Current and in 1980 moved to Espanola where a young Mr. Nolan played and where I, as a young reporter for The Espanola Standard newspaper, first covered the competition.
That year also saw the first girls play.
Later, a continually growing Little NHL invaded Sudbury then outgrew that city, eventually ballooning to become one of the biggest annual minor sporting events in Canada.
On hand for the celebratory supper Saturday were local politicos Markham Mayor Frank Scarpetti and Ontario’s Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sport Neil Lumsden.
Several Little NHL alumnus like Nolan and former Pittsburgh Penguins Captain Dan Frawley were there too, as was one of the first female Little NHL competitors, Wiky’s Jeanette Bondy. Ms. Bondy went on to play for the University of Toronto ‘s Varsity Blues.
But most importantly, at the centre of everybody’s attention, all evening long, was the inimitable and “always smiling” James “Jim” McGregor of Whitefish River, one of the four founders of this important cultural phenomenon.
Speaker after speaker showered praise on the former chief for his endless contributions to his community and the tournament. “A tremendous hockey player himself,” Mr. Madahbee said. “He’s a bashful man who never asked for recognition.” (Sidenote: For fun, Google the guy. Almost every entry starts with a variation on “McGregor was honoured recently for…”)
Back in 1970, Mr. McGregor, James Debassige of M’Chigeeng and Clayton Abotossaway of Aundeck Omni Kaning met with the late Rev. Len Self, an educational consultant with the then Department of Indian Affairs to design a sporting event that would bring Indigenous athletes together. Up to that point, the Indigenous teams didn’t have a league and it was difficult for a variety reasons for Indigenous kids to play on non-Indigenous teams.
The four men came up with the first Little NHL and they built it on four pillars: Education, citizenship, sportsmanship and respect.
Which is precisely what Mr. Nolan was talking about.
As Aundeck Omni Kaning Chief Patsy Corbiere told the crowd, “The tournament is not about winning. It is all about building relationships with other First Nations.”
After all the speeches and presentations in Markham Saturday, and minutes before Crystal Shawanda and her amazing three-man band hit the stage, Whitefish River Chief Rod Nahwegahbow, on behalf of the thousands of people whose lives have been made immeasurably better by his work, presented James MacGregor what Pat Madahbee described as the highest honour possible—an eagle feather.
The Saturday gala was followed Sunday by a Little NHL family fun day in downtown Markham.
Read next week’s Expositor for more Little NHL news.
