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National Day of Resistance PAGE 20
Report on missing, murdered women PAGE 3
Vol. 41 No. 11
Ontario election coverage PAGE 8-18 8000 copies distributed
May 29, 2014 Northern Ontario’s First Nation Voice since 1974
www.wawataynews.ca
Grad season
Photo courtesy of Anna Phelan
Fourteen students from Pelican Falls First Nations High School graduated on May 14. The day before, 22 students graduated from Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School. See stories and photos on pages 6-7 (for DFC) and page 19.
Beardy hired as junior hockey GM & coach Selects Kasabonika’s Angees in second round of GMHL draft Bryan Phelan Wawatay News
Dean Beardy of Sachigo Lake First Nation wrote on his K-Net web page that he would need a three-piece suit and a haircut for the Greater Metro Hockey League (GMHL) player draft. He might have been kidding but Beardy takes seriously his new job as president, general manager and coach of the Shelburne Red Wings. The Red Wings hired Beardy last month to the lead the tier-two JuniorA team, although he doesn’t start full-time on his one-year contract until July 1. He is taking a leave of absence for that period from his job as Sachigo’s economic development officer. “Management is confident that the organization will thrive under Beardy and his new direction with the club,” the Red Wings’ Russian ownership group said in announcing his hiring April 3. The team finished last out of 20 teams – mostly based in and around Toronto, plus one in Quebec – that played in the GMHL in 2013-14,
so there is nowhere to go but up. “We will be very competitive, finish somewhere in the top ten … and play well in the playoffs,” Beardy predicted for the upcoming season. “It is going to be a difficult task at first but I will give my full effort … to meet all expectations.” Certified as a hockey scout through Sports Management Worldwide (SMWW), Beardy worked last season as part-time scout and recruiter for the 10th-place Alliston Coyotes. He was hired for that role by Alliston’s GM and head coach, Joe Murphy, who was selected first overall by the Detroit Wings in the 1986 NHL draft, played more than 700 games in the league and won a Stanley Cup as an Edmonton Oiler. Murphy found Beardy through a scout website hosted by SMWW. The GMHL’s Coyotes and Red Wings share the same owners, and all seven First Nation players recruited from northwestern Ontario by Beardy last year spent time on Shelburne’s roster, some of them after being traded from Alliston.
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youth hockey teams in Sachigo Lake. In Shelburne – best known for hosting the Canadian Old Time Fiddle Championship each August, according to the town’s website – he’ll be living about 100 kilometres northwest of Toronto. Shelburne has a population of around 7,000.
Draft Day
photo courtesy of Shelburne Red Wings
Dean Beardy of Sachigo Lake, right, visits with Nikita Vasilyev, his associate coach with the Shelburne Red Wings, outside their team’s arena. Murphy told Wawatay News he was impressed by the quality of Beardy’s scouting reports and the work he put into them. “(Based on) Dean’s dedication, his love and knowledge of the game, and his scouting … I recommended him for taking the reins in Shelburne.” Through an SSMW online course in
2009, Beardy learned the intricacies of hockey management and scouting from Harry Sinden, the former Boston Bruins president, GM and coach, and Mike Oke, current general manager of the Peterborough Petes, a major junior team in the Ontario Hockey League. Beardy has also coached men’s and
The 2014 GMHL entry draft took place May 11 about an hour drive away, in the town of Innisfil. Players 15 to 21 years old are eligible for selection in the annual draft and for play in the league, which has now expanded to 22 teams. After Shelburne traded away its pick in the first round of the draft, Beardy chose Jarvis Angees from Kasabonika Lake First Nation in the next round as a future Red Wing. Beardy described Angees, a five-foot-10 centreman, as having a full set of highend offensive skills, speed and good on-ice vision.
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