Another holiday tradition I’ve come to enjoy is hockey. Growing up, while I was never good enough to play in local organized leagues, I always enjoyed playing on neighborhood streets. It’s where I learned about hockey.

When you think about it, just about every Canadian kid – Indigenous and non-Indigenous – has played street hockey, pond hockey, or backyard rink hockey. It’s where we all first learned to shoot, skate, or simply just run around on ice. It’s where we learned to love hockey.

As we got older, my friends in the Linklater family started an annual Christmas hockey tournament on Cotter Street in Moosonee, using a tennis ball for the puck. For a while our tourney was called the “Cotter Cup,” and friends young and old, and their children, too, all came together to join in the good ‘ol street hockey game.

We’d dress warm, wearing snow boots, thick gloves, ski pants, and winter hats. We’d usually have enough players to make three teams, with the best two teams advancing to play in the final game. The first team to score three goals would be named champions, and get to proudly hoist the Cotter Cup – a small water pail nailed to a wooden base. Captain of the winning team also got to keep the Cup until next tournament.

Playing pond hockey is fun, and allows us to relive some of our childhood glory, be with friends, get some exercise in over Christmas, and have a few good laughs, especially when someone takes an unexpected spill on the ice! I’ve never won the tournament before, but this year, with some good luck, good defense, awesome stick handling, and no injuries, my team won – making us the Champions! Haha! 

Over the last few years, we’ve changed the name and location of the tournament. It’s now called the “Veterans’ Cup” in honour of World War II veteran Munroe Linklater, the father of my friends. We now play on a small pond near my house which is sheltered from the wind, and where we can make a small fire to warm-up around. Some bring hot chocolate, tea, coffee, snacks, even a hot toddy or two to keep the cold bodies warm.

Our annual Veterans’ Cup pond hockey game in Moose Factory has become a fun and meaningful tradition with friends and family that I look forward to every Christmas.

And now, in this New Year that’s upon us… I’m also looking forward to my winning team keeping the cup until next Christmas. Haha!

Happy 2019!

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Growing up in Moose Factory with my parents, my sister Eva was the first one to get me a mandolin when I was about 12 years old. I’m not sure if it was a birthday or Christmas gift, but it doesn’t matter now. What matters is that I liked it. I don’t know what happened to the original, I think my late brother-in-law Gerry Barbeau took it home with the idea to fix it up. I did neglect it for a short time.

In high school, I really grew to like the sound of the mandolin after hearing the great John Paul Jones, bassist and keyboardist from Led Zeppelin, play it on Going to California. As well, I especially liked Jones’s mandolin playing on Battle of Evermore from the Zeppelin four album. I remember I would lay on my bed listening to the way Jones would accompany Jimmy Page’s awesome acoustic guitar playing on these songs. There is a real skill to being an accompaniest on the mandolin to other acoustic guitars and instruments. I think it takes a certain ability to know when to play, what notes to choose, and how to play them that embellishes a song in a particular way. It can be happy, sad, or dark.

In terms of a band’s identity, it was interesting for me to hear such a heavy rock band like Led Zeppelin play traditional English folk songs on acoustic guitars, mandolins, and harmonicas, and use various tunings. Their acoustic songs and sensitive, almost country-inflected style, always impressed me. In my mind, Led Zeppelin made playing acoustic instruments very cool! As well, I think as a musician, if you can show or use some of your other skills other than your main electric instruments, it is a worthy goal to pursue. So I have tried to incorporate some mandolin and acoustic guitar into some of our Midnight Shine live shows.

Today, I use a Godin mandolin and a Gibson Jumbo acoustic series guitar with another band that I play with in Moose Factory. The band is full electric with drums, but they also use mandolin, acoustic guitars, and a box-like cahone drum for quieter acoustic live shows. I’m learning more country-infused bluegrass style mandolin playing, as its never too late to learn new styles.

To me, the mandolin is still an important part of the instruments I own. In fact, if you had a chance to see it on youtube recently, you’ll see me playing mandolin to James Bay with high school students from Delores D. Echum Composite School in Moose Factory, for the CBC Music Class Challenge.

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