Practicing with the pros

Kahnawake’s youngest hockey stars impressed players from the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) last week during a skills clinic at the Kahnawake Sports Complex, organized in partnership with the Montreal Victoire.

“It was really, really fun,” said 10-year-old Emersyn Paul, who took part in the session last Thursday. “It was a really cool experience. My favourite part was getting to meet these professional players.”

Montreal Victoire players Abby Roque, Dara Greig, and Kaitlin Willoughby came to Kahnawake for two skills sessions with girls’ youth hockey players, working with U5 to U11 players in one block and U13 to U18 players in the later half of the evening.

The event follows Roque’s visit to Kahnawake Survival School (KSS) last month, where she spoke with local high schoolers about her journey in professional hockey, with the goal of inspiring more young women in the community to keep following their sporting dreams.

Roque, who is Ojibwe from Wahnapitae First Nation, said it was inspiring to see how much energy Kahnawake’s young sportswomen have, and that it’s a good sign for increasing involvement of Indigenous youth in professional hockey in the future.

“For me as a kid, I don’t know if I really got to do that many things like this, and I think it would’ve been so important, so it’s really cool,” Roque said.

Roque is currently the Victoire’s second-highest goal scorer, behind only team captain Marie-Philip Poulin. She hopes that young Indigenous players can see her success and believe that they too can one day play professionally.

She added that the key to keeping young women engaged in the sport is continuing to provide them with the resources they need to succeed - including opportunities like last week’s skills clinic, where players could directly interact with professional players.

“I think the best part about kids this age is that they’re here to have fun. They want to have fun with their friends, they’re excited, and they want to meet people like me and Willoughby and Dara, and it’s good for them to be skating with people who are pro,” she said. “Seeing the smiles on their faces, and seeing how excited they are to play, that’s just the best part.”

Taiosheratie Mayo said her child, 11-year-old Skarlett-Ray Cross, was excited all week for the skills session, and that it’s motivating to see opportunities coming to youth hockey players that keep them excited about their sport.

“We told her that the PWHL is the equivalent of the NHL, and that girls are just as good as the men. She’s been so excited,” she said. “To know that there’s girls for her to look up to and strive to be better for is amazing. There’s always something next for her to do, and it doesn’t just stop when minor league stops anymore. There’s always something further to do.”

Cross said she was inspired by the players and was proud to show off her skills with her fellow U11 Kahnawake Mohawks teammates - and to have her family in the crowd watching her meet the pro players.

“It was really so fun, I really enjoyed it a lot. My favourite part was the passing,” she said. “Hockey makes my family come all together, and one day I might want to play in the PWHL, so I love it a lot.”

After the session, Cross and her friends got to spend some time with the pro players, even getting their signatures on their equipment and photos to remember the day by.

Fellow U11 player Kaisley Rice, 9, said the evening was special to her, and that she’s more motivated than ever, having worked on her passing drills with Roque, Greig, and Willoughby. Like many of her peers on the ice, she said that one day she’d also love to play in the PWHL.

“I enjoyed it very, very much,” she said. “I really hope I can do it again one day.”

Knowing special attention is being paid to fostering girls’ sports is important for parents who want to see their children succeed, including Abby Diabo, who came out to watch her five-year-old daughter Claire Curry take part in the clinic.

“It’s a great opportunity to see women play on an elite level and get the opportunity to practice, and get the opportunity to know them as well,” Diabo said.

“I think down the road, Claire’s going to be super excited to look back on these pictures and know that she had the opportunity, she had this experience, and hopefully one day she could maybe even play with them one day.”

Kahnhehsentha Delaronde also has a new hockey player in the family, with her daughter, 10-year-old Emilia Jacobs, joining the U11 Mohawks this year.

To have opportunities like this come right at the start of youth hockey careers sets young players on the right path, Delaronde said.

“Hockey is such a boy-dominated sport, so having the girls do this and see that you can actually go far really lifts their spirits and brings up their confidence, and that’s what it’s all about,” she said.

“It’s really amazing, honestly, it’s really nice that these players actually came here, to a small community, to take part in this and be with our kids. To me, that’s really something.”

The evening was rounded out with group photos on the ice with the Victoire players, and the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK)’s general manager of sports and recreation Kwaronhienhawi Jacobs said she was delighted to see so many youth enjoy the event, which she had facilitated alongside Roque’s visit to KSS.

“When I was growing up, I didn’t have these opportunities. To know our young girls are having this opportunity to play with professionals, and that the professionals are so willing and wanting to be here, is really, really nice,” Kwaronhienhawi said.

“It doesn’t just feel like they have to be here, they’re actually here because they want to be, and when I hear them give these little compliments to our players, I know they’re huge to these girls.”

She hopes the ongoing success of the PWHL can signal a new era for women’s hockey, and give Kahnawake’s players on girls teams the confidence to keep striving for more – she said she’s seen a massive increase in the number of girls staying on in hockey in recent years, a promising sign that families are supporting women who want to seriously pursue the sport.

“I can’t believe that these women are coming here and doing this for us,” Kwaronhienhawi said. “Our girls want to learn, and now they’re getting to do it. This really shows them that they can do it, it shows them that they’re capable.”

The cherry on top of an already exciting evening was an additional surprise from the PWHL - each participant in the skills clinic has been given a ticket to the Victoire’s upcoming Indigenous Celebration Game on March 15, where nine-year-old Iako’tarakehte Dailleboust will do the ceremonial puck drop alongside Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) regional chief Francis Verreault-Paul.

Dailleboust, who is a goaltender with the U12AA Suroit Rockettes will also be jingle dress dancing with her mother, Konwatharani Jacobs, at the event, along with traditional singing by Singing-Wind Deer and a land acknowledgement read by Adysson Stacey.

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