Kahnawa’kehró:non medal at Ayabeh
The U15 CreeHawks were undefeated throughout the whole tournament, winning gold at the Ayabeh Summer Challenge. Courtesy Iohahi:io Delisle
The 2025 Ayabeh Summer Challenge in Gatineau saw many hockey players from Kahnawake take part, with many teams that included Kahnawa’kehró:non posting strong performances.
That included the U15 Competitive division’s EDN (Eastern Door and the North) CreeHawks, which had three players from town: Jaxton McComber, Rome Delisle, and goaltender Kingston Delisle.
That team went undefeated in its three round-robin games, and swept their playoffs to leave with first place, the banner, and the trophy.
“I had lots of fun during the tournament, meeting First Nation athletes that I’ve never seen before,” said Kingston.
“I got to meet new people from different reservations, nations that I don’t really get to see that often, and see how good they are at hockey. It was a very fun tournament. I’ve gone for four years now on different teams, and this is the first time I’ve won it.”
Kingston was the goalie for all six CreeHawks wins, earning the award for the challenge’s best overall goaltender.
“I feel amazing, this is my first time ever winning the award. I was very pumped and super happy to finally achieve that,” said Kingston.
He credited his teammates in front of him for making his job a lot easier, too.
“Every single game, we scored four goals or more. I feel like we had such a good offensive core and D core. My performance was especially good because I kept out most of the goals. I kept it under three goals the whole tournament, for every game,” said Kingston.
In the round robin, the CreeHawks won their first game against All Nations Select 6-1, their second game 4-2 against Barriere Lake Ayabeh, and their third game 5-1 against the Ushuat Redmoose.
The first seed after the round robin, they had a rematch against the fourth-seeded All Nations Select, which was a much closer game than their previous meeting, ending 4-3 in favour of the CreeHawks.
In that game, Kingston said he had his save of the tournament.
“In the third period, I made three stops, and then I was on my belly on the ice. There was a loose puck in front, and I just put up my blocker, and I caught a piece of it,” said Kingston.
“Everybody went nuts. The crowd was going nuts. My whole bench was all hyped up. It was awesome.”
The finals were another rematch, this time against Barriere Lake, which the CreeHawks won 4-1.
His teammate Rome said that for him, the tournament had an extra significance, as this was the first time the tournament was held since the passing in August 2024 of Heath Smith, a 14-year-old hockey player from Kitigan Zibi.
“I wanted to play for the team that he was supposed to play for as a tribute, just to honour the game, and what could have been for him, as a player, and just to play for not just my community, but all the communities,” said Rome.
The tournament introduced a new trophy, the Heath Smith Tournament MVP, in his honour.
“I felt like this is a good addition to the tournament and a good addition to the ceremonies that they do. They should continue doing that every year to honour him,” said Rome.
Tournament organizer Andrew Jeannotte said that’s exactly what they plan on doing.
“It goes way beyond stats. It goes way beyond what you’re doing on the ice. It’s going to go to a recipient every year that demonstrates courage, resiliency, and represents his nation everywhere he goes,” said Jeannotte.
The first recipient was one of Smith’s good friends, Odeshkun Thusky.
“He just never quit. The message we want to put across is that he was never a quitter, and this award will be given to a resilient kid every year,” said Jeannotte.
He said that Smith meant a lot to a lot of people, including Kingston, Rome, and McComber, who were all his teammates at some point.
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“The passing of Heath affected a lot of people, including them. When you’re in the hockey world, Indigenous or not, it’s a small world. These elite kids all play together. They all hang out with each other,” said Jeannotte.
As for the other Kahnawake players, the U11 EDN CreeHawks, with Kahnawake players Jacob Diabo, Masen McGregor-Brown, Camden Lahache, and Dane McComber, won silver in their division.
Three Kahnawake Mohawks teams also appeared in the tournament, with the Class A and U9 teams making the semifinals, but ultimately losing.
