Forming Mutual Connections Through Shared Heritage  

Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour understands the importance of forging a mutual connection with youngsters from communities such as the one where he grew up.

Montour, who is of Mohawk descent, didn’t get any visits from the NHL or major professional athletes while spending his early childhood raised on the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve outside of Toronto. So, when given a chance last week to skate with students from Muckleshoot Tribal School, he remembered a childhood where Native American lacrosse players were the sports figures he most identified with and how finding that connection with more mainstream pro athletes would have meant the world.

“They might have different lives in different situations,” Montour said of Indigenous youth compared to major pro athletes. “But if there’s somebody they might be able to connect with, even if it’s just in a little way – someone similar to them – it would definitely be huge. You just think about how, when you were growing up, having those people would have been nice to have for sure.”

The school’s second such skate in as many seasons at Kraken Community Iceplex, provided courtesy of the team’s One Roof Foundation philanthropic arm, saw Montour on the ice offering coaching tips and talking to the group of 40 elementary, middle school, and high school students in celebration of Indigenous Peoples Month. The Kraken will hold Indigenous Peoples Night, pres. by Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, on Dec. 16 during their game against the Colorado Avalanche at Climate Pledge Arena.

Montour spent time during the skating session hearing from the students, ages 5-to-18, about their Auburn-based school and sharing some of his own background with them.

Hockey is Canada’s official national winter sport, while lacrosse is its national summer sport. Montour excelled at both, as did many of his Indigenous friends immersed in the two pastimes from the time they could walk.

“I love both sports, but mainly lacrosse with its Indigenous players,” said Montour, who played lacrosse alongside hockey throughout his youth, all the way to a Junior “A” level where he won a Canadian national title with a Six Nations Arrows team from his hometown. “Lacrosse is so heavily involved with a lot of high-end players who are Native American. Back home, you’re born with literally a lacrosse stick, and those kids are talented. So, there are a lot of talented players that we looked up to growing up.”

After moving with his family at age 6 from the reserve to the southern Ontario town of Tilbury, about 40 miles across the border from Detroit, Montour became a huge Red Wings fan and began excelling at hockey during the eight years he lived there. But he kept following lacrosse and its Indigenous players -- going to National Lacrosse League games with his parents and watching as some of his friends graduated to playing at higher levels.

“Even the players I played with when I was a kid, a lot of them are professional players now,” Montour said.

He eventually did find hockey role models on his favorite Red Wings, especially dynamic team captain Steve Yzerman. But none that he could ever meet back then or share a mutual heritage with. That’s why he’s committed to making his shared heritage with local Indigenous youth more widely available.

“He was asking them about the school, and so they were able to talk to him about that,” said Samantha McGee, manager of administrative support services for the Muckleshoot school, said of Montour’s interactions with the students. “He showed interest in our school because it’s about 95% Native-based students. And so, he was asking them about the culture and how it is there.

“He wanted more information about how they felt about their schooling and was showing interest about wanting to come out and visit with them at the school, so that way he can connect with them on more of a personal basis.”

McGee said having an Indigenous athlete such as Montour out there with the students was an important confidence builder.

“It definitely shows them that they can be athletic like that, that they can do sports and even make it to be a pro and do it at hockey,” McGee said. “Just seeing another Native be able to get to where he’s at, it show them that it’s doable.”

McGee said the students even getting to skate at all was a big deal.

“Around our area, there isn’t a hockey rink around and so hockey isn’t easily accessible to them,” she said. “And so being invited to something like that, it definitely shows them, ‘Hey, that person cares, or that team cares.’ The company cares enough to have us come and meet Monty like that.”

Montour said he certainly cares about representing Indigenous communities on the ice and being there to encourage them off it. And that’s why, he added, it’s important for the Kraken and other teams to honor those communities with events such as the skate or the upcoming Indigenous Peoples Night event.

“It’s just the support and the history behind it, but I think in general just to show recognition and give back is huge,” he said. “Everybody, especially from back home but also from a lot of different reserves, appreciates it and definitely enjoys those nights.”