Saskatoon girls peewee hockey team plans to take Ottawa tourney by 'Storm'

A group of preteen girls from Saskatoonplan to'storm' the capital city of Canada, in the spirit of reconciliation.

The Comet Storm hockey team, a girls peewee teammade up of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous players, hasbeen chosen as one of the two teams to represent Saskatchewan at Ottawa's Hockey on the Hill tournament later this month.

Player SamairaStrongarm, 11, is a member ofKawacatooseFirst Nation in Saskatchewan.

"I thought my mom and dad were lying," said Strongarm.

"I went to go see ... and it was actually true that I was going to Ottawa."

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The Canada 150 contest is a part of the Bell Capital Cup in Ottawa and was open to boys and girls peewee teams from across the country.

The team's winning submission included a 30-second video and a 250-word essay that was inspired by two of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 callstoaction.

Calls to action 89 and 90emphasize the importance of inclusiveness for Indigenousyouth in sports.

"We wanted to make something unique to our area," said coach David Crowell.

"We've got strong roots for hockey in Saskatchewan but we have even longer standing and stronger roots with our First Nations and Mtis."

The special tournament features 16 girls peewee teams and 16 boys peewee teams from all provinces and territories.

Crowell said he thinks having a blend of Indigenous and non-Indigenous players makes them a more competitive team but more importantly, "it makes us better."

Off to Ottawa

He added that sometimes First Nations families end up sitting on one side of the rink and non-First Nations families on the other, so with the Comet Storm, "we don't try to promote that ... everybody's brought into the fold."

In addition to playing in the tournament, the team also won free travel, accommodation and a commemorative set of Canada 150 Ottawa International Hockey Festival jerseys.

Crowell's daughter, Olivia, 12, said she was eating a cookie when she found out her team was going to Ottawa.

"My dad gave me this letter," she said.

"Iopened it and all it said on this card was, 'We won!'"

The young hockey player said she's learned how badly the first Europeans treated First Nations people through treaty education and she hopes 150 years from now, Indigenous people"are treated equally and I hope that everyone is treated the same."