BUILDING A CULTURE

For Gatlin Church, there was always more than just hockey. When Church convinced the leaders of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation to enter an expansion franchise in the Keystone Junior Hockey League this season – the PBCN Selects – he wanted more than just an on-ice product for local fans in Flin Flon and Creighton. Church wanted to create a family, a full-service hockey organization that was more a culture than your everyday, run-of-the- mill Jr. B hockey team. To that end, Church has enlisted everyone on the First Nation whom he could find who would be interested in his dream and it seems that plenty of people are on board. “Rather than just build a hockey team, we’re building a hockey program here,” he said. “This program includes a 17-bed facility where we’ve hired cooks to come in to feed our boys. We have 24- hour access to a gym. We also have a computer lab to help with their studies. “The facility is located in Creighton, Sask. We’re about three kilometres from the rink. It is the perfect setup. We have five players – Odin Church, Evan Madarash, Frederick Ledoux, Brycen Francoeur and Austin McLean -- who live at home. The rest are imports. We’ve recruited all the way from Montreal to Alberta and to Rankin Inlet. We have six kids on our team from Nunavut and one kid (Dominic Suhr) from Las Vegas, Nevada. This is not a team made up of your local homegrown talent. We’re building a program, a culture and we’re building friendships. These kids will be friends for the rest of their lives. They’ll always have connections and contacts in other places.” HAVING A HOME PBCN has purchased a building that was once a boarding school. Later, it became a boys’ school – kids who came out of the juvenile system would live there in what could be described as a half-way house. Today, the First Nation owns it. On one side, PBCN has developed the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology. On the other side, it’s a dorm for the new hockey team. “Again, this isn’t just about hockey,” Church said. “When they get to PBCN, all of our kids come in and meet with a job coach. They learn to write resumes, they apply or jobs and they go through interviews. We’re teaching life skills, not just playing hockey. “And because almost all of our players live together, they’ll have to learn to love each other because they’re going to see each other 24 hours a day. In that facility, we also have a rumpus room area with air hockey tables and video games for downtime and that’s where our guys spend a lot of time bonding. I think of all the teams in our league, we’re the closest because we live together, we eat together, we sleep in the same dorm and that in itself makes us a mini-Wilcox at PBCN.” Church is convinced that the arrangement is making his players better on the ice and off it. “You see our players walk into the rink and you can see what separates us from the rest – we’re a close-knit group and very confident,” he said. “We’re also making our local society stronger. The kids we have from PBCN are coming to a program like this and you can see their self-confidence growing daily. Kids who were shy and closed off inside themselves are now a part of a team and culture that will help them grow into confident adults. “And the young kids in the community, minor hockey players coming up, see the program and understand that not only do we do things right, but there is no cost for kids to play here. I believe we’re proving that we’re running it the right way.” BUILDING THE TEAM While Church is pleased with the way things are going off the ice, he’s not always been happy with how things are going on it. That’s why he took full advantage of the KJHL trade deadline and improved his team. After adding a handful of new players, the Selects went on an eight-game winning streak. “This team started brand new, as we all know and we’ve used up 21 cards – 21 guys who are no longer here,” he said. “I’m very fortunate that I have a lot of very good friends in hockey – in the SIJHL, the AJHL and the MJHL – and I was able to work the Jr. A wire. It came down to crunch time at the trade deadline, but we were able to add Odin Church, who came back from the SIJHL’s Sioux Lookout Bombers and he’s undefeated in eight games since joining us. He’s already been a big part of this program.” Church also made a move to pick up giant forward Dominic Suhr. Suhr, who hails from Las Vegas, helped the Selkirk Fishermen win the CRJHL title last spring. “We got Suhr out of French River Rapids in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League,” said Church. “His numbers speak for themselves. He’s averaging two points a game since he arrived. He’s a big body who plays well defensively. He does a lot of good things for us and he’s made us a lot deeper. “We picked up Lucas Dunn out of Sioux Lookout, Mitch Hlady from the OCN Blizzard and we worked out a deal to add a 20-year-old defenceman named Cole MacKenzie. He’ll join us in the spring for the Central Canadian Championships. Then we added free agent Carson Favel, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound forward from northern Saskatchewan. The former ‘can’t-miss’ prospect was sitting out the season to attend Saskatchewan Polytech’s Business School in Saskatoon after playing only one game for the Saskatoon Quakers in the PJHL, where he scored one goal.” Since Dec. 1, 2022, the Selects have added nine new players. “That’s half of our team and since then we’re 11-2,” said Church. “It’s all because of our strong scouting and networking program that has been put into place. “We’re a better team. We’re not exactly where I want us to be, but we’re a much better club and I’m looking forward to our playoff run.”