ST. PAUL - After recently reforging ties with the Montreal Canadiens Alumni, the St. Paul Junior Canadiens are gearing up for the hockey celebration of a lifetime.
The celebrations kick off with a special two-day event in January hosting the National Hockey League Indigenous Alumni team, followed up on Feb. 5 with a banquet and alumni game with the Montreal Canadiens.
Patrick Lamoureux, the president of the St. Paul Junior Canadiens Alumni Foundation, says the excitement among the players in the St. Paul area is “overwhelming.”
“We’re confident that we’re going to have probably 25 or 30 St. Paul Canadiens Indigenous players planned against the NHL Indigenous group,” he said, speaking to the Jan. 15 event.
“We will be overwhelmed with players that are going to want to play in those two fun matches.”
The first event is part of an effort to recognize the many Indigenous hockey players who have played with the St. Paul Junior Canadiens over the years.
Lamoureux estimates there are around 150 Indigenous players who helped the team succeed since the 1950s.
“There’s many years that the club would never have had a team, if it wouldn’t have been for some of our Indigenous and Métis brothers,” he explained.
The foundation consulted with elders in the Saddle Lake, Frog Lake and Big Fish areas as well as some of the Métis settlements in the region about how best to recognize its Indigenous players.
“We’re going to leverage off the game of hockey to celebrate. We believe it’s the right thing to do – it’s the moral, ethical and proper thing to do, to celebrate in equal fashion with all alumni, but taking one day special to recognize the Indigenous players that have ever played for the club,” he said.
Tied to that are 18 championship banners for the team that were never really celebrated over the years. Those banners are now being hung with pride, and Lamoureux said each marks a game that almost certainly had Indigenous players on the ice.
“When we have our Indigenous game on Jan. 15, and then on Feb. 5 our Montreal Canadiens (game), the banners are going to be there and those who’ve ever played or been part of it, they’re going to know exactly the year they were involved,” Lamoureux said.
“For us, it’s an important acknowledgement.”
Going beyond reconciliation
The games themselves are a means to an end, says former Montreal Canadiens player John Chabot — the real work gets done in community outreach events beforehand and afterward.
Chabot said he and other NHL Indigenous alumni will fan out to schools in communities around St. Paul to send a message of hope and perseverance to Indigenous youth.
“We just let them know that there’s the ability to reach your dreams, no matter where you’re from or who you are, as long as you’re willing to work for them and overcome,” he said.
“No matter if you’re Indigenous or non-Indigenous, there’s always obstacles in front. And as an Indigenous kid, sometimes we feel those obstacles are insurmountable. We just want to give them that knowledge that it’s been done before.
“For us, it’s beyond reconciliation – it’s understanding aspirations and dream-setting, and goal-setting, and the ability to achieve.”
They’ll have eight or nine alumni in total pairing up to do that work.
Acknowledging history
As for the game against the Montreal Canadiens alumni, Lamoureux said they’ll also be holding a banquet for them.
“Those plans have all been put in place, so we believe that those two events are going to have a sizeable impact for the community of St. Paul and the greater surrounding area,” he said.
“It’s also going to give us an opportunity to properly acknowledge the 67 years of history that the club has.”
Tickets for the Jan. 15 Indigenous Alumni game went on sale Nov. 19, and Lamoureux said tickets for the Feb. 5 Montreal Canadiens game will likely be available Dec. 1. Banquet tables for that second event are already on sale for anyone interested in securing tickets.
Lamoureux said the foundation is also trying to reconnect with all its alumni – there’s approximately 1,500 of them over the past 67 years. They’re creating a mailing list to keep all the alumni in the loop, but they’ve lost touch with many of them over the years.
“We’re trying to catch up and gather all these contacts – you can imagine, you’ve got 1,500 people that are spread around the world, and there’s been no official files or data or contacts ever organized,” he said.
“If any of the members are out there who ever played or coached, or been involved in it from an executive standpoint, get a hold of us.”
Alumni wanting to reconnect can reach Lamoureux at [email protected] or at 780-920-4725.
