Ocean Hyland’s First Nations Night Design Blends Hockey Nostalgia and Tsleil-Waututh Storytelling

The Vancouver Canucks are celebrating First Nations Night with a special jersey design created by Tsleil-Waututh artist Ocean Hyland. Her art blends hockey nostalgia with cultural storytelling rooted in the land and water of the North Shore. 

Hyland’s design reimagines the Canucks’ iconic orca logo using the navy, burgundy, and silver colourway the team wore from 1997 to 2007.  

“This era of colours reminded me of when I went to my first hockey game with my dad and my uncle. So, I wanted to touch back into that nostalgia for me,” Hyland said. 

The inspiration for her artwork comes from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s connection to the waters of the Burrard Inlet, specifically the area known as Cates – or Whey-ah-Wichen – which translates to “facing the wind.” 

“It’s the inlet that the Tsleil-Waututh people say that we come from. So, we have this very strong connection to the water here in our story; we call the water our first grandmother,” Hyland said. 

“I was so excited to work with the Orca logo, because orcas, of course, live in the inlet, and I wanted to weave in designs to do with the inlet and to do with the Tsleil-Waututh people, to honour that connection to the inlet, to the water, and to our territory.”

Inside the orca silhouette are Coast Salish designs and elements that represent the interconnectedness of sea, land, and air.  

The lower portion of the logo features waves and salmon swimming through the water, symbolizing the life found in the inlet. The middle section incorporates elements representing a wolf, which is a meaningful symbol for the Tsleil-Waututh, who refer to themselves as “children of the wolves.” At the top of the orca, birds represent the skies above the territory. 

Additional artwork appears on the jersey’s shoulder, where Hyland created a reinterpretation of the Johnny Canucks logo as an Indigenous fisherman with a fishing spear. 

For Hyland, the opportunity to design artwork for the Canucks is both exciting and humbling. 

“I feel very honoured,” she said. “I still feel so young in this practice. It does feel important to share with people what I've learned, so to be able to do a design like this that can hopefully inspire younger artists to pick up this craft would be very honouring and incredible.” 

Hyland hopes the design resonates with fans and young Indigenous artists who see their culture reflected on the ice.