Indigenous hockey players from across province meet in Edmonton for Native Hockey championship

A ref drops the puck during a game during the Native Hockey Alberta championship tournament in Edmonton on April 7, 2024. (Marek Tkach / CTV News Edmonton)

Native Hockey Alberta wrapped this weekend what may have been its largest ever championships.

Two hundred sixty-five teams participated in the tournament that used all of Edmonton's available rinks from Thursday to Sunday.

"When I was younger, it didn't seem like such a big thing. But as I grew up and started noticing more… everybody comes from everywhere," O'Chiese First Nation player Kenyin Bigchild told CTV News Edmonton on Sunday.

"It's definitely made me see how committed we are as Indigenous people," added player Roddy Whitequills from Kainai Nation.

According to Native Hockey Alberta's president, Clyde Goodswimmer, about 5,000 players and coaches were involved in the weekend.

Teams come every year from all corners of the province, from Little Red River Cree Nation in the north to the Blood Tribe in the south.

"What they do just to get here, what they do to fundraise and how they get here, it's just phenomenal," Goodswimmer, who's been involved in the league since its inception in 1993, said.

Now, his grandchildren play in the tournament.

He told CTV News Edmonton he has friends he only sees once a year at the tournament – which is part of what makes it special.

"It's just a great feeling where we all come together. We play against each other, but we all come together after the game and make new friends."

Jehren Thomas, a player from O'Chiese First Nation, said, "Looking out there and seeing my family and stuff that I don't usually never get to see, it's just a different feeling."

Whitequills added, "I just love playing for my reserve."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Marek Tkach