Edmonton is certainly very proud to have these two athletes rock the place at Rexall this season.

NEW OIL KINGS DEBUT WITH A WIN

Edmonton, AB – It was an inauguration of sorts at Rexall Place. The new era of the Edmonton Oil Kings has officially begun! The first ever game of the new Oil Kings turned out to be a thrilling 4 – 3 victory over the Kootenay Ice in front of a sell out crowd of 6,782. Edmonton native J-P Szaszkiewicz scored with 1.2 seconds remaining in regulation time to cap off what was an entertaining game from start to finish.

The boisterous crowd was treated to a first class pre-game ceremony featuring a number of Edmonton Oil King alumni from the original era including the legendary Vic Mah. There couldn’t be a more fitting way of bringing back the franchise into the league than the raising of the 1963 and 1966 Memorial Cup Banners. Another highlight was the stirring rendition of the national anthem from Canadian Idol winner Eva Avila who also performed a couple of sets during the intermissions.

It didn’t take long for the home town crowd to really have something to cheer about. Douglas, MB native Brandon Lockerby goes into the history books as the first player to ever score for the new Oil Kings and a 1 – 0 lead. Craig McCallum also chipped in his first of the year on the doorstep to tie the game at 2.

The Oil Kings at press time sport a record of 2 wins and 1 loss in a shoot-out. McCallum has 2 goals and 2 assists for 4 points in 3 games played.

SOURAY MAKING HIS SHOT HEARD IN ALBERTA

Edmonton, AB - The Edmonton Oilers know that if they're to return to the playoffs in 2007-08, the young guns pushing for jobs up front are going to need a lot of help from the new hired guns watching their backs.

But with blue-line newcomers like Joni Pitkanen moving the puck and Sheldon Souray unloading his cannon point shot, not to mention the strong pre-season play of Denis Grebeshkov and Dick Tarnstrom, the mood in the Alberta capital is upbeat.

Souray, who signed a five-year US$27-million deal, missed the first few days of camp with a sore back only to make his presence felt last week by scoring on a blue-line blast on his first shift against the Vancouver Canucks.

"Shelly's just a really simple player with a real heavy, heavy shot," said Matt Greene. "He's strong defensively, he's got a good stick, moves the puck well and makes those simple plays that I think a good, strong defenceman does."

Souray is coming off a career year in Montreal with 26 goals (19 of them on the power play) and 38 assists. He was also minus-28 and is working on his defensive game and has been paired with stay-at-home rearguard Matt Greene.

But assistant coach Charlie Huddy, who handles the defence, said some numbers can lie.

"I know everybody looks at the knock with Souray and Pitkanen and their high plus-minuses, but that all stems from a number of different things as an organization or team play maybe, but it's a fresh start for those guys."

Rest assured that the Edmonton Oilers are play-off bound in the 2007-08 season. With a solid line-up and scoring punch, the Oilers fans are excited especially the Metis and First Nations of Alberta.

PIGHIN RACKING UP ACCOLADES IN JAVELIN

Alberni Valley, BC - Brooke Pighin is making a name for herself in beautiful British Columbia and is starting to make some noise internationally. She has been a member of the Alberni Valley Track Club for seven years. She has grown up in the Alberni Valley and is a multi-event athlete but has focused, excelled and grown passionate about the javelin throw. Pighin enjoys the challenge of the sport and the community spirit of the track and field arena.

Besides track and field Pighin has played on community and high school basketball, soccer, field hockey, and on ball teams. A brief look a her accolades clearly demonstrate that Brooke is well on her way to a successful career in her chosen sport.

In 2001, Pighin earned a spot on the BC Top Ten setting an all time top 10 performance in the Javelin Throw. Brooke was the Midget Canadian Champion in Javelin in 2004. She was the Gold Medalist at the 2006 North American Indigenous Games in both Javelin and High Jump and the Bronze Medalist in Discus Throw.

This year, Pighin’s season opening personal best and gold medal win at the University of Hawaii Invitational Meet was a start of what’s coming. She broke the meet record with a gold medal throw at the Washington State University Invitational Meet.

Pighin qualified for and represented BC on three provincial teams; gold medal winner at the BC vs. Alberta dual meet; silver medal at the Canadian Senior National meet in Windsor, Ontario; silver medal at the Canadian Junior Nationals in Abbotsford, BC; and a gold medal at the Western Canada Summer Games in Strathcona County, AB.

TED NOLAN SPEAKS TO GRIEVING STUDENTS

Moncton, NB – Just days before the New York Islanders arrived in New Brunswick, a tragedy occurred in the picturesque city of Moncton. Four local high school kids were killed in a head-on car accident, shocking the town to its core. It was another blow to Harrison Trimble High School, which had lost another student just a few months prior. Satara Stevens was struck and killed by a truck on July 27, 2007.

When Islanders head coach Ted Nolan heard of the passing of students Corey Doucet, Jimmy Dunphy, Brandon Hupman and Jared Storey, he knew immediately that he wanted to do something for the students of Harrison Trimble High School.

On Wednesday, September 19th, just hours before the Islanders' exhibition game against the Montreal Canadiens, Nolan spoke to the students of Trimble High in their auditorium.

Choked up to begin his speech, Nolan discussed how welcomed he felt returning to the city that gave him another chance to coach the sport he loves.

The Islanders' head coach continued by speaking of the tragedy of losing his father suddenly, at age 14, and his mother, who was killed by a drunk driver, when Nolan was 21. Through these heartbreaks, Nolan said he grappled with faith, but it was renewed in time.

"I always tell kids about my first pair of skates that were size 10. I had size 3 feet," said Nolan. "I still remember putting rubber boots on inside of those big skates – they were like skis – and skating on rivers and ponds, and having this crazy dream of about some being in the National Hockey League.

"Fifteen years later I had a chance to play with Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky. I would never have been able to do it without faith."

However, it wasn't all smiles for Nolan, not having his parents there to see him.
"I look up in the stands all the time. Every game that I played, or every game that I've coached, and say, they have the best seats in the world."

"Your friends are probably watching over you from the best seats. Never forget them, enjoy your lives, but never forget."

I've witnessed firsthand what Ted has done on Long Island in the community, but now I'm getting a better idea of what he means to the community of Moncton.

I was fortunate enough to hitch a ride to Tim Horton's Ice Centre this morning from none other than Bill Schurman, who was the general manager of the Moncton Wildcats when Ted was the head coach. On the ten minute ride to the Ice Centre, Mr. Schurman did nothing but rave about Ted and what he did for Moncton in the one year he was there.

"There are some coaches who come here and just do the bare minimum, when it comes to the community," said the former Wildcats GM, now the Director of Community Services for the city of Summerside on Prince Edward Island. "Teddy came to Moncton and embraced the city. He was in the community whenever he had the chance."

Mr. Schurman noted that last year the Pittsburgh Penguins hosted the Montreal Canadiens in Moncton for a preseason game, and the Moncton Coliseum wasn't nearly at capacity. That wasn't the case last night, when the Coliseum was filled to capacity to see the Islanders and Montreal.

"Don't be fooled by the pro-Montreal crowd," said Mr. Schurman. "This is Montreal country, but the reason the place was filled last night was to support Ted. He always supported the city, and this was a way for people to re-pay him for that."

Ted Nolan and John Chabot are the first-ever all Aboriginal coach/assistant coach combination in the history of the National Hockey League.

Chabot helped form an NHL Aboriginal Alumni team that travels the country playing games that support Native youth programs. John and his wife Theresa have three children: Aubrey, Kyle and Alexandrea.

“I am certainly very proud of that, to have John work alongside me is something that I don’t take for granted. Definitely, we are going to make the Islanders a contender this season,” says Nolan when contacted by Native Journal at his Islander office.

BEAVER BITS

Too many times we don’t see the impact the players and coaches of the NHL have on people. There are many hockey players who are very happy to see their fans come watch their practice or even just to say hi to them, that means a lot to the player.

Players like Jordin Tootoo, Jonathon Cheechoo, Chris Simon, Sheldon Souray, and of course NYI head coach Ted Nolan make that time in their busy schedules to leave a presence in the city they visit.

I wanted to share this heartfelt letter from Harvey Pennell of Moncton, New Brunswick to our good friend Ted Nolan:

Mr. Nolan:

I want to sincerely thank you and the Islanders organization for the heartfelt visit and speech you gave to the Harrison Trimble High School students here in Moncton on September 19th. In addition, inviting the Trimble hockey team as guests to the exhibition game was also a class act.

My son was classmates and good friends with all four boys and he and the school have been going through a rough few weeks and having the public out- pouring and emotional support has indeed helped them move on. Though they will never forget their friends, receiving messages of strength and guidance, such as your speech, does truly help them realize that life (though what seems sometimes unfair) does move on.

Thank you and the Islanders organization for being one class act.

Harvey Pennell
Moncton, NB

Craig McCallum makes the Oil Kings roster as a top gun

With the giftedtalent possessed by the young Craig McCallum, many people never thought that it would take him this long to finally play in the Western Hockey League. Attending his third Western Hockey League (WHL) try-out camp, McCallum has finally showcased his talent to the people that needed to see the potential of this young Cree man.

Oil King Craig McCallum with his family after his first WHL game.

“I didn’t expect too much from myself going into the Oil Kings camp but I definitely didn’t set the bar low either,” says McCallum.

McCallum hasn’t set any goals for the season or what his expectations are in playing for the Edmonton Oil Kings. “I’m just taking one day at a time and hope for the best.”

Adjusting to a different style of hockey that McCallum is not familiar with has been very smooth. The speed of the game and the quick thinking play-making has been a key factor for McCallum and certainly from watching the few games he’s played in Edmonton, the potential is unlimited.

Craig McCallum is the reigning Saskatchewan Midget AAA scoring champion in 2006-07 season with 85 points in 42 games played. McCallum, no doubt, was a training camp surprise as he scored a hat-trick at the inaugural pre-season tournament with six WHL teams participating.

Originally from Canoe Narrows, SK, the 5’11”, 170 lb. McCallum made his WHL regular season debut in fine fashion as he scored a goal in front of approximately 50 hometown fans who traveled six hours to watch him play in an Oil Kings uniform.

“It feels so good – it’s so exciting to get the feeling over with of scoring that first goal in front of a big crowd. It’s exciting, I feel good,” says McCallum after the season opener for the newly minted Edmonton Oil Kings.

McCallum redirected in a perfect pass from Cameron Cepek on the power play for the Oil Kings second goal in a 4-3 win over the Kootenay Ice in a sell-out of 6,000 plus at Rexall Place.

“You can definitely see the nervousness in him and I haven’t seen him play like that before, but he was getting better and more confident as the game progressed,” says proud father Peter Bird.

“I knew he had in him to make it, but I just didn’t know that he was going to wait until he was 20 years old to do it,” adds Bird.

Like most young kids growing up in a First Nations community, Craig McCallum would cry when told that enough was enough for the day and had to come in to the house. “There were many nights that Craig would sleep with his hockey stick and if he didn’t he would be pouting and saying I’m going to quit hockey. It’s really awesome to see him playing this level of hockey and I’m certainly very proud to see him in that Oil Kings uniform,” says Bird.

What impresses his father the most is the intelligence of Craig and how focused he is in what he wants to do. “He’s a very smart kid and he works very hard on what he wants right now.”

Those are memories that Craig McCallum can cherish and be thankful that he never gave up the sport of hockey.

“I was excited and nervous at the same time in playing my first WHL game,” he says.

After getting his emotions of excitement together, mother Laura McCallum says, “It was very exciting and I was really nervous for him because I knew he was nervous on the ice. We had over 50 people from our home community of Canoe Lake travel here to Edmonton to watch him play.”

“The evening before his first game I was watching an interview he had done for our local television station back home – it was emotional. I had tears and I know it’s his desire and determination that have brought him this far,” added Laura.

“Presently, [Craig] is a student at the University of Alberta studying Child Psychology. I want him to get an education, that was my utmost dream for him,” she said.

The biggest things about being an athlete is the support system that has been built and Craig McCallum states that he has solid support from his fiancé, Randi and her parents, and of course his parents, Peter and Laura.

“Last year I got dropped from training camp and I was going to quit playing hockey and decided not to. I want to give it one more honest effort and I’m certainly glad that I did,” added McCallum.

Watch out for #24 of the Edmonton Oil Kings and keep in mind, he is eligible for the National Hockley League Draft in 2008. Native Journal’s rooting for you, Craig!

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