Stanley Cup visit ‘thrill of a lifetime’ for Pikangikum First Nation

PIKANGIKUM FIRST NATION, Ontario -- The teenager, clad in a black No. 63 Boston Bruins jersey, sat on the wooden stands in the Eenchokay Birchstick School gymnasium. The smile on his face radiated, his body shaking from the shock of it all. 

He had visited the Stanley Cup moments earlier, but that could barely hold a candle to what came next for Neely Zdeno Turtle. 

That’s right, the boy wearing the Brad Marchand jersey was named after Cam Neely and Zdeno Chara, each a Bruins legend now in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The shy young man walked up to Andrew Ference, who was on hand as part of his role with the NHL’s Social Impact, Growth and Legislative Affairs department, to introduce himself to the member of the Bruins team that won the Cup in 2011.

When Ference learned of Turtle’s homage to the Bruins greats, he reached Chara, the captain of the 2011 team, via a video call to excitedly tell him about this turn of events. The three chatted animatedly for a few minutes.

In the aftermath, the boy remained stunned. 

“It’s absolutely unbelievable,” the 15-year-old said. “I didn’t expect him to call Chara.

“It means a lot. Pikangikum is really remote, accessible only by plane and by winter (ice) road. This doesn’t happen every day and you have to take it all in. I watch a lot of hockey growing up and seeing that Cup in my face, it’s amazing. You see that Cup on TV and people hoisting it and now it’s right here.”

Yes, the Stanley Cup was on this First Nations reserve -- a 4,470-acre plot of land on Pikangikum Lake that is a 45-minute flight from Winnipeg -- as part of a goodwill gesture by the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association. 

The 24-hour trip, across Wednesday and Thursday, was part of the celebrations for the 2026 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic. The Montreal Canadiens will face the Winnipeg Jets in the outdoor game at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX). 

The visit included an official welcome dinner, a cultural gift exchange and a special visit to the elders. The Jets donated 80 hockey sticks and 100 balls. Tim Hortons contributed 1,600 NHL trading cards and a mountain of Timbits pastries, which were demolished in no time Thursday.

This is a community that loves hockey. It unites most of the 3,800 residents who call this ancestral land home.

Cam Zdeno Turtle is not the only hockey name in town, although his might have the best origin story.

Turtle’s father, Dean, switched allegiances from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Bruins in 2010.

Why?

“The (Maple Leafs) broke my heart,” he said, laughing.

So he switched to Boston, their archnemesis.

Dean Turtle had loved watching Neely play and he wanted to compete on the ice like the Bruins legend. “A big power forward, played hurt, grinds everywhere,” he said.

The unplanned moment with Chara and his son was almost unfathomable for him.

“I’m still starstruck,” he said, breaking into a giggle.

Hockey is the thread that connects those in this community. They watch it at night. They talk about it in the morning. They reenact it on the outdoor rink by the school or the indoor rink near the airport. 

Players are named after stars of the past and the present. There was a Wayne Gretzky, a Chris Chelios and a Ondrej Pavel mentioned during the visit.

Jerseys from almost every NHL team, with a healthy dose from the hometown Jets, were on display, as well as sweaters from the various school teams and teams from the Pikangikum Hockey League, the reserve’s eight-team rec league. 

“The NHL is No. 2 in Pikangikum,” said Justin Maddalena, a teacher at the school and coach of its boys hockey team. “The PHL is No. 1.”

During this visit, the Stanley Cup trumped all allegiances. 

It was a magnet, drawing young and old alike to its various stops, including community day on Thursday, when the Cup took up residence at the school for almost six hours of public display.

That was the hope -- to deliver hope.

Chief Paddy Peters prepared remarks but was unable to attend the ceremonial dinner Wednesday, where traditional First Nation foods, including moose stew and fried bannock, were among the items on the menu. 

The remarks were delivered by Deputy Chief Jonah Strang.

“Today is a day that many of us have only dreamed about,” Strang read. “For many Canadians, the Stanley Cup represents the greatest achievement in hockey. It is a symbol of excellence, determination, sacrifice, teamwork, and the belief that anything is possible when people come together around a common dream.

“But today, here in Pikangikum, the Stanley Cup represents something even greater. It represents hope. It represents possibility. And it reminds us that even the most distant dreams can one day become reality.”

Hopes and dreams are hard to come by here at times, according to the residents. 

Promises have been made and broken. There is a scarcity of clean water. There is economic hardship. There are harsh conditions to overcome. The journey is a struggle at times. 

Much of this was forgotten in the wake the arrival of a 38-pound trophy made of zinc and silver. 

The Stanley Cup, like so many other dreams, had seemed so far away, unreachable. It belonged to another world, one that made this First Nation community feel like an outsider. 

Instead, the dream was tangible, and there was unbelievable power in that.

“This is a trophy that has been touched by so many players, legends that have won it and celebrated with it,” said Rachel Saly, who teaches gym, math and science at the school. “Now it is here with us and that is a very big deal.

“It means everything to us. Even students that don’t want to make it to the NHL have their own dreams and this trophy, and it being here, shows them that dreams do come true and they come true in Pikangikum.”

It wasn’t just the students who were touched by the Cup, which was joined by the Hart Trophy, given to the most valuable player in the regular season, and the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The elders also reveled in the appearance of the hardware.

Leo Suggashie is 61 years old and has lived here since 1972. He’s seen a lot of joy and even more hardship, but he had never seen anything like the trophy display in the main foyer of the school. 

He stared for a long time, transfixed.

Then he told his story.

In 1978, he watched the Stanley Cup Final between the Bruins and the Canadiens on a black-and-white TV powered by a generator on this very reserve. 

He was transfixed. He watched Montreal captain Yvan Cournoyer accept the Cup after the Game 6 victory. Canadiens defenseman Larry Robinson was awarded the Conn Smythe.

Each trophy was now an arm’s length away. He said the memories flooded back as he looked at the trophies and touched them, reading the names. 

“Forty-eight years,” he said, shaking his head. “Forty-eight years later and I get to see and touch the Stanley Cup. I never though I would see this.

“The thrill of a lifetime.”

After a pig roast meal for lunch, the students, faculty and police officers, as well as Ference, hit the outdoor rink and played a spirited game of ball hockey on the new sport court near the school. 

The fire truck pulled up, its horn the soundtrack punctuating each goal. There were world-class saves, wicked slappers and toe drags. One player even broke out “The Michigan,” a lacrosse-style goal attempt, without success. 

Officers from the Ontario Provincial Police played in uniform with their utility belts still affixed. The kids formed a kaleidoscope of colors with their NHL jerseys and their heavy-metal T-shirts. 

There was a Jets jersey (Mark Scheifele), two Chicago Blackhawks jerseys (Connor Bedard and Patrick Kane), two Maple Leafs jerseys (William Nylander and Auston Matthews). There was a Vegas Golden Knights jersey (Jack Eichel) and a Colorado Avalanche jersey (Cale Makar).

Cam Zdeno Turtle was there in his Marchand jersey. He scored a goal and pulled at the Bruins logo as he performed the Connor McGregor strut on his way back to the bench, beaming brightly, lost in the magic of the moment. 

Franklin Paibomsai, an adviser to Chief Paddy Peters and the council, and a former chief of Whitefish River First Nation, was the losing goalie in the game, his return after a self-enforced retirement.

Was he ready to hang them up again after this heartbreak?

“I’ll be back,” he said, short of breath. “You don’t go out after a loss.”

That is the motto of the Pikangikum people, who have overcome so much.

Their perseverance was rewarded with this visit, this day that will live in their lore, transmitted in the stories handed from generation to generation.

As the trip came to an end, the Stanley Cup made a last stop at the “Welcome to Pikangikum First Nation” sign on the road from the airport.

There, standing on the gravel road, Paibomsai and Amanda Sainnawap, the assistant director of education for the Pikangikum Education Authority, took a private victory lap, celebrating the fruits of their labor in hushed tones.

Jokingly, Paibomsai asked what they were going to do for an encore.

“We can’t top this,” Sainnawap said proudly. “No way.”