Cowboys and Cree hockey players face off in the 40th Battle of the Little Big Puck

Hundreds of people will jam into a hockey rink in Maple Creek, Sask., Saturday night to watch rodeo cowboys take on their Cree neighbors in a long-running charity match dubbed the “Battle of the Little Big Puck.”

It’s the 40th edition of what the town near the Alberta border is calling an “epic hockey matchup” between members of the Nekaneet First Nation south of Maple Creek and local cowboys who are current or former rodeo competitors.

In the third episode, the players change their hockey gear to traditional clothes. Cowboys play in their pants, cowboy hats, plaid shirts and sometimes even spurs on their skates. First Nations players wear headdresses, animal skins and face paint. The judges are RCMP officers who transform into red serges.

“We’re just neighbors. That’s all we really are,” said Nekaneet Chief Alvin Francis, who played in the first game in 1979 and continued until he hung up his skates about 10 years ago.

He said outsiders may raise an eyebrow at teams calling themselves “Cowboys” and “Indians,” but he believes people who take the time to learn about the community and the history and spirit of the game realize it’s about mutual respect, unity. and friendship.

“I realize it’s politically incorrect, but they think of themselves as cowboys, and we think of ourselves as the old term ‘Indian,’ which is now First Nations, right? So that’s how we look at it,” Francis told CBC News. “We can laugh at each other and make jokes at each other just to be neighbors because that’s how the world should be. That’s how we see it.”

The game raises thousands of dollars every year for a local health center, youth activities or people in need. This year, a portion of the proceeds will benefit Sandy Cooper, a teenage bronco rider who was paralyzed at a recent rodeo.

So how did it all begin?

It was 1978. Three friends stopped for a beer on a hot summer day.

Tom Reardon, now 75, developed the plan with another local cowboy, Nick Demchenko, and their friend, Raymond Anderson, a member of the Nekaneet First Nation.

“It took more than one beer to design it,” joked Reardon. “We were just doing a fun Sunday afternoon design. We weren’t visionaries or anything like that.”

Reardon came up with the name Battle of the Little Big Puck, inspired by the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.

“I went to the bathroom at the bar, there, and while I was there, it came to me. I came out and Nick and Raymond had a mouthful of beer when I said it, and it splashed all over the table.”

The Cowboys and Cree players met in their first game in January 1979, raising $180 for the local hospital, then staged a rematch in 1980.

“It was a tie. Each team had won the game. We just thought, ‘Well, that’s good,'” Reardon said.

A few years later, some community members decided to revive the idea. They printed flags and turned it into a community event that has flourished for decades.

“It’s really about camaraderie,” said Reardon. “It’s a fun time!”

A sense of community

For some, the game has developed a deeper meaning and symbolism.

The Nekaneet First Nation has a unique history in southwestern Saskatchewan. In the late 19th century, many First Nations were pushed out of the Cypress Hills and moved to reserves in other parts of the province. But one chief, Nekaneet, refused to go.

His people stayed in the area without reserve land or federal funding, befriended the settlers, farmed and learned to rodeo. The Nekaneet First Nation was granted reserve status in 1913, but relations continued.

Today, Little Big Puck’s fight reflects that history.

“Generation to generation, it’s passed down. That knowledge and respect is passed down from the very beginning. You don’t see that in other communities,” said Maple Creek Mayor Michelle McKenzie.

The 51-year-old woman remembers going to the game when she was 14. She was then a little unsure of where she would fit in as an Mtis girl in the community. The game of hockey helped him find a sense of belonging, he said.

“It didn’t matter who you were, what you were, or what color your skin was, you were still part of the community. So that’s really important to me because I can figure out where I belong,” McKenzie said. .

Senior Larry Oakeswill will lace up his skates for Saturday’s game, just like he does for almost every other game. The 63-year-old former chief of the Nekaneet First Nation said everyone is playing hard, even though it doesn’t really matter who wins.

“In order to deal with something like racism or discrimination, people have to do something. It’s not just something you just write about or talk about. You better do something. We can say we’re doing something together,” he said.

In the last minute of a hockey game, all the players flood the ice together while the standing room only crowd cheers.

A Cree elder says, “It’s a party.”