First Nations girls signed to elite U.S. hockey program

From the reserve to the big city: Eight First Nations girls are heading to Boston Massachusetts to play elite hockey.

The girls hail from Pimicikamak (Cross Lake), Norway House Cree Nation, Berens River First Nation, Birdtail Souix First Nation and Naotkamegwanning First Nation, which is in northwestern Ontario.

"I'm pretty excited, nervous," Shayna Moore, 16, told CBC News.

Two other girls from her community also made the team. Off the ice, Moore, Saige McKay and Carrigan Umpherville will attend Grade 11 together.

"We've been playing together for a very long time, so it's going to be easier having them there," said McKay,15.

The girls will be playing for the Boston Shamrocks in the Junior Women's Hockey League, which is comparable to the Western Hockey League for young men.

The JWHL comprises 10 teams: six American and four Canadian, including Balmoral Hall in Winnipeg.

"There isn't a lot of opportunities in Manitoba," said Umpherville, 16. "So we're taking this opportunity because it will help us get looked at from different colleges all over the states or Canada."

That's the priority for McKay who said she is nervous about moving away from her family.

"This is a big opportunity for scholarships," she said. "I want to be a nurse and hockey is just something that is going to get me there."

The girls will be tutored right at the rink, and will study the Manitoba Online Curriculum. They will practise every day at 4:30 after class, but if they have straight As, they will have the option to hit the ice after lunch.

The girls will live together in a house, chaparoned by a couple whose daughter used to play for the program.

"It's great," Umpherville said. "The house parents are awesome — they cook for us, they do everything, drive us to practice. The coaching is good … they treat us professionally."

'That's our goal... get them noticed'

Over the weekend the girls hit the ice in Manitoba for one last time before heading south of the border.

They tried out for Team Manitoba, which will compete in the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships next spring.

"It's a big thing, they don't get much exposure in northern communities with their midget program," said head coach Dale Bear.

Bear said taking the next step beyond midget hockey is challenging because that requires the girls to leave home and move away from their families.

"That is the big problem with the girls we have … a lot of them feel they aren't good enough, they're scared to move down," he said.

Moving to the States will open doors for younger players because they now have role models to look up to, Bear said.

However, he added, there still aren't enough options for girls who want to further their hockey careers.

"It kind of grinds my gears a little bit that the girls don't get as much [exposure] as the boys do," he said. "But it is slowly, but surely starting to pick up. The girls are starting to get a lot more exposure."

The Junior Women's Hockey League only permits four out-of-country players, yet the Shamrocks are taking 10 girls from Manitoba and Ontario.

It's because they're First Nations that they're all able to have this opportunity, Bear said.

The girls have Indian status and therefore have rights under the 1795 Jay Treaty, which in theory and law means Indigenous peoples from the United States and Canada can cross the border freely.

"If Boston wanted, they could have 20 girls from Manitoba, Canada, wherever. As long as they are [Indian] status, they're good to go," he said.

Training camp opens on Aug. 26.