Elsipogtog First Nation ready to experience Hockeyville, NHL atmosphere

ELSIPOGTOG FIRST NATION, New Brunswick --On the surface, the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators will play a preseason game at J.K. Irving Centre in Bouctouche on Saturday (6:30 p.m. ET; TVAS).

Anyone who understands Kraft Hockeyville Canada knows it's not simply a preseason game.
Here in the Maritimes reside 2021 winner Elsipogtog First Nation, feted this week with festivals, a visit from the Stanley Cup and celebrating what Hockey Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier of Metis First Nation heritage called the spirit of grassroots hockey. Hockeyville is the first and perhaps only time the people of 2020 winner Twillingate, Newfoundland, and Elsipogtog First Nation will see the Stanley Cup and the NHL up close.
Festivities began with an alumni game in nearby Richibucto on Thursday and a picnic Friday at Chief Young Eagle Recreation Centre, where the Elsipogtog First Nation people played and watched hockey and gathered every Friday night for wellness and community.
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Those cherished rituals were taken away by a September 2020 fire that damaged the arena's interior. The response was a rally to bid for and win Hockeyville 2021. It continues with a red-carpet arrival introducing the Canadiens and Senators to many First Nation people, residents from New Brunswick and other parts of Canada.
The melting pot will be rich, different ways of life and rooting interests coming together.
"You're talking about getting out into the rural areas, away from your home ice, so it becomes kind of a neutral-site game in that regard," Trottier said. "There's a different kind of pride. The audience is going to be a hockey audience. They're going to be cheering for everything."
Fans die-hard and casual will be quick to note that the Canadiens begin their first full season under coach Martin St. Louis against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Bell Centre on Tuesday. They hope the preseason ends with a victory after going 0-6-1, this after a last-place finish (22-49-11) followed a surprise run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final.
The Senators open at the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday. A barrage of offseason moves have optimism high in Canada's capital, anticipating a run to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since losing Game 7 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Final, 4-3 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in double overtime. Ottawa is 4-3-0 after defeating Montreal 4-3 at Steele Community Centre Arena in Gander, Newfoundland to conclude Hockeyville 2020 on Thursday.

Final preparations for the season will be made, the Canadiens and Senators getting their systems down and players sharpened for the real deal. In the weeks and months following Hockeyville, Elsipogtog First Nation will continue to build a diverse hockey following. Most community members cheer for the Canadiens, Boston Bruins or Maple Leafs; support for the Chicago Blackhawks strengthened since native Everett Sanipass was chosen with the No. 14 pick in the 1986 NHL Draft.
Sanipass serves on the Band Council. Besides community government and writing a book, he's thinking big picture, working to create new ways to grow the game for Indigenous people. The more opportunity to play, the better chances a young player could potentially follow him to the NHL.
"Our main thing is getting the kids out," Sanipass said. "Educating them and sharing experiences of all different kinds."

Loyalties are being groomed elsewhere in town with the Senators and Vegas Golden Knights among new favorites. How it's stretched beyond the Canadiens, Bruins and Maple Leafs is a great sign for Sanipass, the first First Nation athlete to be inducted into New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame.
"A lot of them go for the colors, the juicy colors," Sanipass said Friday. "There's a lot more advertisement than when I was playing hockey, so this is something that's exciting. It's all an education process and tomorrow night's game, they're going to have a feeling of how the atmosphere of an NHL game is going to be like."
Kids and adults lucky enough to secure tickets will see how the Canadiens are rebuilding around forwards Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky, how new Senators forwards Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat click with core members such as defenseman Thomas Chabot, and forwards Drake Batherson, Brady Tkachuk and
Tim Stutzle
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A platform is there for Elsipogtog First Nation to grow its program well after Hockeyville. They're up for the next challenge of keeping the momentum going.
"Talking about it," Angie Bernard said about one hour after her 24-year-old autistic son, Colton, led the parade to bring the Cup into town. "Talking to others all the time."