Norway House team to play home game despite ban

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This article was published 30/03/2012 (5119 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Norway House North Stars junior hockey team will defy a controversial ruling that bars them from hosting playoff games.

North Stars’ governor Langford Saunders told the Free Press his club is preparing to play Saturday night in their own community — even though the Keystone Junior Hockey League has mandated they play on neutral ice in Gimli.

“We’re not going to Gimli,” Saunders said late Friday. “Give us our home games back.”

In early March, the junior B league suspended the North Stars from playing any home games for the rest of the playoffs after several members of the Selkirk Fishermen were injured in a semifinal game.

Instead, the league ruled the team had to play their home games in Gimli.

Norway House went on to take the series against Selkirk.

The team is in the midst of the best-of-seven championship series against the Arborg Ice Dawgs, with the winner heading to Saskatoon in late April for the Western Canadian championship. The North Stars trail in the series 2-0 after a pair of losses in Arborg.

Game 3 is set for Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Gimli Recreation Centre, which is a 40-minute drive from Arborg. Norway House is an eight-hour bus ride to the Gimli rink.

League president Rick Olson said the ruling came two months after the team was put on probation in light of complaints about the squad’s behaviour.

He said on average there are about 12 penalties called in a typical game. But during the semifinal clash between Norway House and Selkirk earlier this month, referees called more than 30 penalties.

Fishermen head coach Al Hares said at one point during the game, nine North Stars players were in the penalty box. He said a few of his players had to go to the hospital following the game, and parents warned they’d pull their kids if the aggressive behaviour continued.

“We were concerned about someone getting hurt badly,” Hares said, noting one of his players had to have surgery for a torn ACL, and a goalie had to be pulled from the game due to injury. “The situation was such that something had to be done. Someone could’ve ended up with a broken neck.”

One North Star player received a five-game suspension, but Saunders said the concerns over the Selkirk game were exaggerated. He alleges the team is being penalized after its former coach became verbally abusive toward a referee last year.

Saunders confirmed the team brought in a new coach in January and got rid of their former assistant coach in an attempt to “clean up” problems with the club’s management. He said there have been no incidents since their second game against Selkirk and the league’s ruling is unfair.

He said he hopes Arborg’s team will come and play in Norway House Saturday night.

“I think it was blown out of proportion,” Saunders said. “It’s not a hockey game anymore. It’s politics.”

On Friday, Norway House Cree Nation Chief Ron Evans and Assembly of Manitoba Grand Chief Derek Nepinak alleged the decision to move North Star games to Gimli was based on unspecified fears. Evans said the decision was not based on what’s happened on the ice, but “a statement against our people and community which irresponsibly reinforces unacceptable stereotypes and phobias.”

“What we are doing is we are challenging the decision made by the Keystone Junior Hockey League… we will not accept or tolerate unjust actions to our youth, nor prejudice to my people or my community,” said Evans, former AMC Grand Chief.

“My community has always and will always graciously welcome all guests, all visitors.”

Olson said the decision has nothing to do with the community of Norway House or its fans, adding the league has never received a complaint about the community.

“It’s a combination of things,” he said. “There has to be a certain amount of respect in hockey.”

Hockey Manitoba president Peter Woods said he will look into the league’s decision. He said Hockey Manitoba has never received a complaint about the North Stars.

“Something has happened for the league to make a decision of that magnitude,” he said.