The auction ended Oct. 29 and a cheque presentation ceremony will be held at a later date. (Facebook/La Ronge Ice Wolves Hockey Club)

By Derek Cornet

giving back

Ice Wolves raise more than $10,000 for residential school survivor program

Nov 4, 2021 | 12:12 PM

The La Ronge Ice Wolves raised a total of $10,090 through the sale of special orange jerseys commemorating the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

“It was more than we thought we’d make on it,” said Ice Wolves board member Randy Johns. “We weren’t quite sure what we would come out with. We were hoping it would be over $5,000 or $6,000, but it ended up over $10,000. That was a really great response.”

The Ice Wolves wore the jerseys on three occasions including two away games in both Kindersley and North Battleford. They most recently wore them Oct. 29 during a home game in La Ronge, which was the same day an online auction to bid on the jerseys closed.

Johns explained the funds will be donated to the Jeannie Bird Clinic Health Services Indian Residential School Survivors Cultural Program. He noted a cheque presentation ceremony will occur at an upcoming hockey game.

“When we started organizing this, we went to the tri-communities and we asked the leadership … to do a couple of things,” Johns said. “One was to help us purchase the jerseys. So, each community donated $1,000 and that was to buy these orange jerseys. We also asked the three communities to identify where they would want the money to go.”

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Head coach Kevin Kaminski’s jerseys raised the most amount of money at $1,000, Connor Abric’s jersey went for $600, and the jerseys of Curren Wintonyk-Pilot, Nolan Doell, Aaron Greyeyes and Xavier Cannon each brought in $500. In all, 28 jerseys were auctioned.

Daxton Lang’s family and Kim Patterson donated Daxton’s jersey to Churchill Community High School for display.

Lac La Ronge Indian Band Coun. Devin Bernatchez had the winning bid for Cole Christensson’s jersey. He’s hopeful Christensson will be able to visit the school in Sucker River to do a presentation and then have the jersey given away to one lucky student through a draw.

“The idea is truth and reconciliation isn’t just one day, it’s something that’s all the time,” Johns said. “The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) wanted to recognize truth and reconciliation, and the relationship between all of the communities in our league and First Nations and Métis people.”

At least one other SJHL team, the Flin Flon Bombers, also wore orange jerseys and their auction is currently underway. Johns mentioned the concept was such a success the fundraiser could be repeated in the years to come.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @saskjourno