The Treaty 8 Tribal Association and the Blueberry River First Nation coordinated an Atom Youth Hockey team to attend the annual Central British Columbia Aboriginal Youth Hockey Tournament (CBCAYHA) in Williams Lake on March 13th-15th, 2010. Our team consisted of aboriginal and nonaboriginal youth from Fort St. John, Chetwynd, and from the First Nation communities of Doig River, Blueberry River, Saulteau and Fort Nelson First Nation.

The team came together for an exciting weekend beginning with an elaborate opening ceremony that saw all players, coaches and First Nations leaders flood the ice in celebration as drumming, singing and introductory and opening remarks were made by First Nations leaders, Chiefs and tournament organizers. Williams Lake is hometown of hockey star Carey Price (a member of Anaheim Lake First Nation), goalie for the Montreal Canadiens and inspiration to all aboriginal youth hockey players.

Our team known as the Blueberry L'il Braves played hard and competed strongly with a third place finish in the tournament. There were outstanding efforts by our goalies, defencemen and sharp shooting forwards. For some of the youth, it was their second year playing together in this tournament and they were able to rekindle friendships and make new ones while having fun playing hockey and other healthy off ice activities such as swimming, mini-sticks games and a pizza party.

Download the announcement and team photo