Fort St. James saw the first ever BC Major Midget Hockey League outdoor game take place Sunday afternoon in Nak'azdli Whut'en territory.
During the Northern Winter Classic, the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs took on the Prince George Cariboo Cougars at the Ernie Sam Memorial Arena and it was standing room only. The outdoor game was the last of two games played in Fort St. James. The first game was played Saturday at the Fort Forum Arena.
On Sunday afternoon, Chief Alec McKinnon said he was pleased to see about 1,000 in attendance for the history-making game that he said brought the community together.
"This means a great deal - look at how many people came out to the event," McKinnon said. "It's brought people out and brings people together."
To make the event happen Rolene Sam, who is the office manager for the Nak'azdli Whut'en non-treaty First Nation, took on the event on top of her other duties and then McKinnon took over for a while before handing it over to Marvin Martin to do the finishing touches.
"It took many people to make it happen - the number of volunteers fluctuated day-to-day," McKinnon explained. "But John Sam was here every day and Marvin worked 16 to 20 hours a day to make this happen. We hope we can hold this for the next 10 years. That's our goal so that every team in the league can come out and play on the outdoor arena. My next job is to upgrade it."
The rink is currently 31 feet shorter and 12 feet narrower than most rinks in the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League.
McKinnon said they would like to install permanent bleachers and extend the roof and ice to official size.
"Those are big money items," McKinnon said. "We'd also like to build a Zamboni garage so we don't have to park it in the Petro's car wash."
But it's really about the community effort behind the hockey game.
"For the last month it was all hands on deck and the last week was super busy," McKinnon said. "But again the most important part is to get the little ones out and inspired because now we have the ice in, but mostly it's a community thing, bringing us together and we need to start taking pride in things like this. This brings the District of Fort St. James and the Nak'azdli Whut'en Territory together and we just need to take care of one another."
Marvin Martin, always quick to deflect credit for the event, said he took over organizing the event in November and it all came together only because of the dozen or so volunteers that helped.
"And this is just the beginning," Martin said. "We're talking about bringing in more teams in the future. This is just the first time for all of us and we'll be upgrading and making improvements as we go along."
The game play ended in a 2-2 tie and because it was so mild the ice conditions deteriorated enough to stop game play before overtime could take place.
During the game spectators seemed to enjoy the up close view as many people stood along the boards to watch the game. About half the bleachers were impossible to sit on as water dripped from the melting snow on the roof onto the lower half of the benches.Nobody complained and fans were still very enthusiastic about the event.
Joe Tschampa from Prince George was standing beside a bleacher full of friends and family watching the game.
"This is great," Tschampa said. "It's the first outdoor midget game in Canada so I wanted to be part of it."
Game play stopped abruptly when the puck came over the glass and hit one of his friend's in the hand. Fortunately, she laughed it off and game play resumed.
"The whole event has been really well organized and very well attended," Tschampa said.
Shawn Julian of The Taba Group, which sponsors the Cariboo Cougars, said this was an important event for the community.
"This is a great event and will definitely influence the community in a positive way, especially for the youngsters to come out and see a sport we all love. We now have an outdoor rink and the indoor rink that are both operational. It's really good for the community."
Chief McKinnon hopes the game was the start of something more.
"It means a lot to us and we're hoping to inspire the youth - you know, there's more to life than video games," he said. "We need to get outdoors. We're living in the north."
