How a girls hockey team from Nain found themselves at a PWHL playoff game
A girls hockey team from the most northern community in Labrador got to fly to Montreal
It's a trip they will remember for a lifetime. Girls from Nain had the opportunity to travel to Montreal to watch a Professional Women's Hockey League playoff game.
The trip came to be when TSN's Breaking Down Barriers, a series that highlights individuals and organizations who want to change hockey culture, did a feature on the team and their community.
"We know hockey is [a] pretty exclusive sport, so we want to share and tell those stories and highlight programs that are welcoming to everybody," the show's host, Saroya Tinker, told CBC Radio's Labrador Morning.
Tinker is taking on a director role this reason, directing the episode featuring the girls from Nain. On top of her role with TSN, Tinker is the manager of diversity, equity and inclusion with the PWHL.
A crew filmed the girls in Nain to get a sense of the community and the things they do there. Then came the most exciting part of the experience for the team — actually heading to Montreal to catch the PWHL playoff game.
Air Canada and the PWHL were major sponsors of the trip, but Julie Dicker, a team chaperone during the trip, says it wouldn't have been possible without funding from the Aboriginal Sport and Recreation Circle Newfoundland and Labrador.
"It almost wasn't going to happen because of the cost of the trip from Goose Bay to Nain and return," Dicker said. "It was through Aboriginal Sport [and] Recreation Circle N.L., thankfully for them that they came through and funded that part of the trip for the girls."
In addition to arranging for them to watch a PWHL game, Tinker and an Air Canada representative worked together to create an itinerary full of events to keep the girls busy and having fun.
"We got a tour of old Montreal, they went on the ferris wheel, they had a leadership panel at Air Canada's head office and a tour of the airport and baggage claim," Tinker said.
"They had an Indigenous community leader Nakuset come and talk to them, and she was a part of the Sixties Scoop and she shared her story about growing up and being adopted and being in Montreal … and trying to find her roots."
'It was just amazing'
The highlight of the trip for many of the girls happened before the game even started. The squad was able to head down to the tunnels to fist-bump players of the Montreal Victoire as they made their way onto the ice.
Jaycie Kalleo, one of the players with Team Nainimiut, said she never thought they would ever get to go to a game like that.
"It was just amazing and it was so incredible just to attend," said Kalleo.
The team was treated to seats in a suite, and even got lots of time on the big screens inside the arena.
Tinker said all of the girls from Nain lost their voices from screaming and cheering so loud.
Raine Andersen, another player on Team Nainimiut, said being selected for the trip made them feel recognized.
The Nain team's episode of Breaking Down Barriers is scheduled to air during this year's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30 — something the girls say they are looking forward to watching.
"It's going to be like really amazing. My mom is going to be like 'Oh my god, you're on the TV, you're famous,'" said Tessa Dicker.
Tinker's goal of inspiring the girls and putting smiles on their faces was certainly a success. After the trip, many of the girls said they're feeling inspired to pursue careers of their own in the PWHL.
"If they put their mind to it, if they work hard for it, they can make it as far as they want to go," Julie Dicker said.
"We did meet some of the Montreal Victoire players and some of the Ottawa Charge players, and in meeting them some of their players were Indigenous too, like us. And some of them came from small Indigenous communities, like us. So, if the girls really want to pursue anything … it's possible for anybody, [as] long as you work hard, [as] long as you follow your dreams."
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