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‘Indian Horse’ Canadian hockey movie finally makes it to the U.S. big screen

03 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Anaheim Ducks, Brandon Montour, Devin Buffalo, Edmonton Oilers, Ethan Bear, Fred Sasakamoose, Greenville Swamp Rabbits, Harvard University, Indian Horse, Maryann Macdonald

“Nobody wants to see an Indian movie.”

That was the general response director Stephen Campanelli and the makers of “Indian Horse” initially received from the Canadian and Hollywood movie industry when they pitched the idea of bringing the fictional story of a First Nations boy – a survivor of Canada’s notorious Catholic residential schools – and his difficult path to adulthood and hockey fame to the big screen.

“‘Does the general public really want to see this?’ That was the attitude. ‘Why bring up the bad past,’ which really wasn’t that long ago.” Campanelli told me recently. “But it’s a great story that people connect with. And if you don’t connect with the part about the racism and horrible things that happened to the indigenous people, you connect with the hockey – you see the resilience and the power of a sport like hockey to change people’s lives.”

AJ Kapasheist is one of three actors who portrays Saul Indian Horse, a hockey-playing survivor of Canada’s residential schools, at various stages in his life (Photo/Elevation Pictures).

American audiences now have the chance to see “Indian Horse” as the Canadian-made film executive produced by Academy Award-winning actor/director Clint Eastwood has finally crossed the border.

It took five years before the film was finally made and released in Canada in April. And it took months to get distribution interest in the United States. But for a product that folks allegedly wouldn’t see, “Indian Horse” has done alright, collecting 16 film awards.

“We work in an industry where indigenous stories and characters on the screen do not reach mainstream audiences,” said  Christine Haebler, one of the film’s producers. “An all-Native or indigenous acted movie is not what distributors or theaters are used to seeing and selling on their screens even in 2018.”

But the timing seems right for “Indian Horse” – for positive and negative reasons.

The film comes at a time when a growing number Native American/First Nations players are achieving success at all levels of hockey – from Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price giving a nod to his heritage in accepting the Vezina Trophy in 2015 to the Ditidaht First Nation’s Maryna Macdonald playing defense for Harvard University this season.

It also comes at a time when indigenous hockey players are still experiencing a disturbing number of racist incidents and continue to endure hateful taunts about their heritage.

Last Friday, a pee wee hockey game near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, ended before the third period after players and parents allegedly hurled racially and culturally insensitive remarks toward the opposing team, the Waywayseecappo Wolverines.

“We heard many parents saying ‘Those boys are just going to get drunk, maybe they’re drunk now. They’re probably hung over…,”  Tanis Brandon, the mother of a Wolverines player and the team’s assistant manager, told CBC. “I felt like crying…As an adult, I didn’t even know how to handle it if someone called me a dirty Indian or a savage.”

In May, members of the First Nation Elite Bantam AAA team endured racist slurs and taunts at the Coupe Challenge Quebec in Quebec City, Canada.

“Indian Horse,” based on the late author Richard Wagamese’s best-selling novel of the same name, will be screened in Tempe, Arizona, on Friday and will be shown in other theaters nationwide later this month.

Actor Forrest Goodluck plays a young Saul Indian Horse, who hones his hockey skill at a Canadian residential school (Photo/Elevation Pictures).

It was shown at the Yakama Nation Heritage Theater in Toppenish, Washington, and at the 23rd annual Red Nation International Film Festival in Los Angeles last month.

The movie doesn’t pull punches. Through the eyes of protagonist Saul Indian Horse, the film gives an unvarnished portrayal of life for Indigenous youth who were plucked from their families and shipped to residential schools, which were established under the premise of helping the children assimilate to white Canadian culture.

Between the 1880s and 1996, more than 150,000 indigenous children attended  residential schools. Many of them reported being sexually, physically and psychologically abused by priests, nuns, and other teachers.

The Canadian government formally apologized for the schools in 2008 and a Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established out of a negotiated settlement that included monetary compensation for survivors.

Fred Sasakamoose, a residential school survivor, became the NHL’s first indigenous player with treaty status when he skated for the Chicago Black Hawks in 1953-54(Photo/Courtesy Hockey Hall of Fame) and Getty Embed.

Fred Sasakamoose cried as he watched “Indian Horse” at a screening in April. Sasakamoose, who is Ahtahkakoop Cree, became the first indigenous player with treaty status to play in the National Hockey League, accomplishing the feat when he skated for the Chicago Black Hawks against the Toronto Maple Leafs on February 27, 1954.

Like Saul Indian Horse, Sasakamoose found an escape from the horrors of the residential schools in hockey.

Harvard University defenseman Maryna Macdonald.

“It hit back the pain,” Sasakamoose said of the film. “The impact of that movie – it was my life. It is a good movie, but it is also painful.”

While there are some similarities between Sasakamoose and the movie’s lead character, Haebler notes that “Saul Indian Horse took a divergent path of Fred Sasakamoose’s life.”

“Without spoiling the movie, Saul Indian Horses experience differs greatly,” said said.

Harvard’s Macdonald, whose grandmother attended a residential school, said “Indian Horse” is “a great movie that, obviously touches on a heavy topic.”

“The depiction they have in the movie is pretty powerful,” she told me. “It kind of gives light for a lot of people who might not understand a lot about residential schools.”

And it gives light to how hard it was for players like Sasakamoose to make their way in a mostly-white hockey world. Sasakamoose’s NHL career spanned only 11 games in the 1953-54 season in which the talented center failed to score.

Harvard University defenseman Maryna Macdonald in action (Photo/Gil Talbot).

But his brief presence blazed the trail for other indigenous players like Reggie Leach, the high-scoring Philadelphia Flyers right wing who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the best Stanley Cup Playoffs performer in 1976, and center Bryan Trottier, a seven-time Stanley Cup champion on three different teams and the NHL’s Most Valuable Player in 1979.

Now, a new generation of Native American/First Nations players, like Macdonald, are at the dawn of their careers, helping to further break down barriers and debunk myths.

Brandon Montour, patrols the blue line for the Anaheim Ducks; Edmonton Oilers defensive prospect Ethan Bear skates for the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League; and Devin Buffalo has gone from being a standout netminder at Ivy League Dartmouth College to a rookie for the Greenville Swamp Rabbits of the ECHL.

Greenville Swamp Rabbits goaltender Devin Buffalo hopes his play will help shatter stereotypes against Native American/First Nations hockey players (Photo/Greenville Swamp Rabbits).

Buffalo told CBC in October that his dream “to show people where a Native hockey player could go and overcome these obstacles and stereotypes.”

Follow the Color of Hockey on Facebook and Twitter @ColorOfHockey. And download the Color of Hockey podcast from iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud and Google Play.

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A First Nations NHL player bypassed by history is championed by dogged reporter

14 Monday May 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Fred Sasakamoose, Henry Maracle, Hockey Hall of Fame, New York Rangers

Like any good journalist, Irene Schmidt-Adeney loves to unravel a good mystery.

But Schmidt-Adney, a reporter for the Ayr News, a weekly publication in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, didn’t realize how deep she would have to dig to try to solve the mystery of Henry Elmer “Buddy” Maracle.

Henry Maracle, standing, with the N.Y. Rangers in 1930-31.

She wondered why hockey history hasn’t shown love to Maracle, an Ayr product who appears to have been the first indigenous player in the National Hockey League.

Maracle, a Mohawk from Six Nations, played 11 regular season games and four Stanley Cup Playoffs contests for the New York Rangers in 1930-31. He tallied a goal and 3 assists in his short tenure with the Blue Shirts.

Hockey historians regard Fred Sasakamoose as the first NHL’s first indigenous player with treaty status.  Sasakamoose, a member of the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, played 11 games for the Chicago Blackhawks  in 1953-54 without registering a point.

Sasakamoose, 84, was invested in the Order of Canada last week, an honor that recognizes Canadian citizens for outstanding achievement, dedication to community or service to the nation.

Reporter Irene Schmidt-Adeney holds a jersey provided by the New York Rangers with Henry Maracle’s name and number on the back (Photo/Courtesy Irene Schmidt-Adeney/Ayr News).

Sasakamoose is also a member of the Saskatchewan First Nations Sports Hall of Fame. the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, the Prince Albert Hall of Fame and the Canadian Native Hockey Hall of Fame.

“It’s great that he got the Order of Canada, but Maracle should be recognized,” said Schmidt-Adeney, who published her story about Maracle in March after months of exhaustive research. “We’re not going to go out and demand that the Order of Canada come off Fred’s neck. It would just be nice if Henry Maracle was recognized.”

Hockey historians say Fred Sasakamoose became the NHL’s first indigenous player with treaty status when he skated for the Chicago Blackhawks in 1953-54 (Photo/Courtesy Hockey Hall of Fame).

Maracle is starting to get his due, thanks to Schmidt-Adeney’s doggedness. She reached out to the Rangers and obtained two official jerseys, complete with Maracle’s last name and Number 14 on the back.

One of the sweaters will be presented at a ceremony next month to North Dumfries Mayor Sue Foxton on behalf of the township. Former New York Islanders broadcaster Jiggs McDonald, an Ayr native, and Walter Gretzky, father of Wayne Gretzky, the NHL’s all-time leading scorer, plan to attend the event, Schmidt-Adeney said.

Plans are being formulated to present the second Rangers jersey to a representative of Six Nations of Grand River, hopefully to coincide with National Aboriginal Heritage Day on the June 21.

In addition, the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto asked Schmidt-Adeney for her research on Maracle.

She noted in her March 21, 2018 article that the Hall had biographies for Maracle and Sasakamoose in its data base, but only had Sasakamoose described as indigenous.

So who was Henry Elmer “Buddy” Maracle?

He was a 5-foot-11 left wing whose professional career began in 1926-27 with the Springfield Indians of the old Canadian-AmericanHockey League. He spent four season with the Indians before he was traded to the Rangers in 1930-31. His hockey exploits garnered racist headlines like “Indian Puck Star” and “Redskin Icer.”

He ended his professional playing career in 1936-37 after skating for the Indians, Philadelphia Arrows, New Haven Eagles, and Bronx Tigers of the old Canadian-American Hockey League, and the Tulsa Oilers of the American Hockey Association. He briefly served the Oilers’ player/head coach during the 1936-37 season, according to HockeyDB.com.

The hockey statistics site says that Maracle played amateur senior hockey for the Detroit Holzbaugh-Fords of the Michigan-Ontario Hockey League in 1938-39 

Maracle became a U.S. citizen and worked in auto and tire plants in Detroit. He gave up his Mohawk status in 1955, according to Schmidt-Adeney’s research. Three years later, Maracle died from a kidney disorder in 1958 at the age of 53. He was a produce truck driver living in Dallas, Texas,  at that time.

“It’s interesting that it all happened at the same time,” Schmidt-Adeney said of Maracle becoming a U.S. and relinquishing his Mohawk ties. “What happened? Why did he give up his status? I don’t know.”

So how did history bypass Maracle?

Schmidt-Adeney doesn’t think it was a deliberate slight. She surmises that it was, in part, a result of a dark period of Canada’s history when First Nations youth were sent to residential schools – church-run, government-funded institutions that were established to “aggressively assimilate” students to white Canadian culture.

The schools were unpleasant places where abuse – physical, mental, and sexual – occurred. Residential schools first opened in the 19th Century and the last one closed in 1996.

About 150,000 First Nation, Inuit and Metis children were removed from their communities and forced to attend the schools, CBC News reported in 2008.

“People didn’t say they had young children because they didn’t want them taken away,” Schmidt-Adeney told me. “There was that whole issue and there were other issues at that time that Maracle was born that would make him harder to find.”

“It was 100 years ago, we didn’t have the Internet, we didn’t have communication,” she added. “Not only did we not have communication, we had a government that was taking children away. So it’s completely understandable that this information (about Maracle) didn’t come out.”

Also contributing to the mystery of Maracle is the fact that he grew estranged from his family some time after 1939. Schmidt-Adeney said she hopes to learn more from a Maracle descendant who she recently found.

“I reached out to her via email, but no response (yet),” Schmidt-Adeney told me.

Follow the Color of Hockey on Facebook and Twitter @ColorOfHockey. And download the Color of Hockey podcast from iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud and Google Play.

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