Running Around
with Allan Beaver
Allan Beaver is a member of the Bigstone Cree Nation in Desmarais, AB. A former athlete, Allan has competed in volleyball, basketball, fastball, and long-distance running before starting his writing career fifteen years ago.
Soonias leads Canada to a successful Norceca Tournament
Nolan proud to see son playing in the NHL
Predators sign forward Jordin Tootoo to $1.95 million, two year deal
The Nashville Predators have signed forward Jordin Tootoo to a US$1.95-million, two-year contract extension.
Tootoo has seven goals, six assists and 57 penalty minutes in his fourth NHL season while earning $700,000 this year.
“Since we drafted Jordin in 2001, we have seen him blossom into a complete player, as evidenced by his gradual increase in production since breaking into the NHL,” GM David Poile said in a statement. “Jordin is a physical player that can not only get under opponents’ skin and draw penalties, but has proven he can score at this level as well.
“We are excited about watching his continued development over the next two seasons.”
Tootoo, 24, made his debut in October 2003, becoming the first player of Inuit decent to play in the NHL. He was originall Nashville's sixth choice, 98th overall, in the 2001 NHL draft.
SOONIAS LEADS CANADA TO A SUCCESSFUL NORCECA TOURNAMENT
Caguas, Puerto Rico – Dallas Soonias is living a dream of doing something he loves which includes all expense paid trips and seeing the world. Soonias is representing Canada in the sport of volleyball at the International level and is one of the best the county has to offer as the power-hitter.
On January 8th, 2008, Canada concluded their opening round at the 2008 NORCECA Olympic Qualifier with a 3-0 sweep of Mexico with set scores were 25-21, 25-19 and 26-24 in favour of Canada.
For the third consecutive match Dallas Soonias led the Canadian attack from the right side, finishing with 16 points on 14 kills, one stuff block and a service ace. Victoria native Fred Winters recorded 11 points in the contest while Captain Murray Grapentine contributed with nine points, including six stuff blocks.
Next up on January 10th, Canada played the host country, Puerto Rico. The Canadian men still on a high from their sweep over Mexico lost a disappointing 3-0 semi-final loss, essentially ending the Canucks hopes for berth into this year’s Beijing Olympic Games.
On January 11th, after a disappointing 3-0 loss in the semi-final of the 2008 NORCECA Olympic Qualifier, Canada had to regroup and play Cuba for bronze. Having already defeated Cuba in 4 sets in pool play, it was Cuba who turned the table to hand Canada their second loss of the event 3-1 by scores of 25-23, 25-23, 24-26, 25-23.
With the event now history, many of the Canadian players will return to Europe to their respective professional teams while the remainder will regroup at the National Team Training Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Dallas Soonias was so impressive for Canada and he’s certainly shown he belongs with the best in the world in volleyball. Native Journal is proud of Dallas Soonias.
NOLAN PROUD TO SEE SON PLAYING IN THE NHL
Edmonton, AB - Nolan, 48, knows about lost and found. Professionally lost for years, he found his way back to the NHL this season after a puzzling exile upon accepting a trophy as coach of the year in 1997. When Nolan last coached in the NHL, his Buffalo Sabres won their division for the first time in a generation. Nolan’s return to the NHL completes a circle.
Ted Nolan (left) takes a moment to speak with Native Journal's Allan Beaver.
“Everything an Indian does is in a circle” according to Black Elk, late holy man of the Oglala Sioux. Nolan says, “and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles and everything tries to be round.”
Even, as it happens, a hockey puck.
Nolan’s life story is told in circles. He was born on the Garden River First Nation Reserve in northeastern Ontario and returns each summer to a home he built near the river. When he coached in Buffalo, and for years after, he lived near two Great Lakes. On Long Island, he lives near the ocean his ancestors knew before Columbus sailed it. “I’ve always lived on water,” he says. “I’m drawn to it.”
Wang hired Nolan in June when the Islanders did not have a general manager. Nolan thinks that’s no accident: “I don’t know if there was a general manager who would have hired me.”
Ottawa Senators GM John Muckler was the GM in Buffalo who hired Nolan in 1995, and they clashed on personnel matters during two seasons. Muckler was fired after the division-winning 1996-97 season. Darcy Regier, the Sabres’ new GM, offered Nolan a one-year deal, which he rejected in the belief he deserved a longer term.
Regier withdrew the offer. Few others came over the years. Nolan believes general managers viewed him as a coach who would undermine them.
“Rumors started about ‘GM killer,’ and there were just some horrible, horrible mistruths,” Nolan says. “The more the stories came out, the more that people thought they were true. To this day I work with people who say, ‘What happened?’
“To me, nothing happened. We had some disagreements. The general manager wanted to go one way and I wanted to go a different way, but that happens in life in every field. But the stories came out I was hard to work with, and people have a tendency to believe something they’re comfortable with believing.”
Nolan spent his years away from the NHL coaching his kids and working with indigenous youth in Canada. Once Brandon saw a clip on TV of his father counseling kids about the dangers of sniffing glue.
“He said, ‘Isn’t it good you’re not in hockey anymore?’ And I said, ‘Why’s that?’” Nolan continues, “And he said, ‘Because you wouldn’t have had a chance to go see those kids.’ For him to say that – sometimes we lose sight of what matters. He was right. Maybe this thing was a blessing. It showed me what’s really important in life.
“I loved getting up in the morning and driving my sons to school. I loved going to their hockey practices. I loved staying at home and playing my wife in stupid card games and going to a movie on Friday night. I had lost maybe a little bit of who I was. In nine years, you get that back. To me, I wouldn’t change it for nothing.”
Still, Nolan missed coaching. “He wasn’t the same person,” Jordan says. “He was more quiet, not as happy as when he was behind the bench.”
Nolan says if that’s true, he didn’t recognize it. “Down deep, maybe subconsciously, I was withholding my love for the game,” he says.
Last season, eight years after Buffalo, Nolan took the reins of the Moncton (New Brunswick) Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League: “I got my mojo back (in juniors) and rediscovered my love for the game, really, at the first practice.”
Nolan didn’t know how to coach when the Greyhounds hired him at 30.
“We finished in bottom place,” he says. “I heard the fans and the radio stations and the newspaper saying, ‘Nolan can’t coach.’ It just steered something inside of me, and I said, ‘I’ll prove to them I can.’ My whole life has been about proving to people.”
Growing up, Nolan had admired Philadelphia Flyers coach Fred Shero, whose teams won two Stanley Cups in the mid-1970s. As a young coach, Nolan contacted Shero’s son, Ray, (currently general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins) to inquire about his father’s coaching methods.
“Ray sent me a box of material,” Nolan says. “At the top of one of Fred’s notes, the best thing I read. It said: ‘You have to learn to win with what you got or you don’t win at all.’ I read it over again and went, ‘Man!’
“I was coaching (Sault Ste. Marie), and I was trying to be like everyone else: ‘I wish I had a better winger. I wish I had better goaltending.’ When I read that, it clicked in. ‘Hey, I’ve got to work with what I’ve got. I have to make these athletes the best they can be. And collectively we can be good.’ “
Nolan says he had forgotten the lessons of growing up on an Indian reserve: never whine about what you don’t have. Shero’s credo changed his team and philosophy: “The guys began believing in themselves because their leader believed in them.”
Nolan spent nine years away from the NHL as he was shafted by Buffalo. “It feels good to be back,” he says. “I feel like I belong.”
Another proud moment for Nolan is to see his son, Brandon, playing in the National Hockey League. “He played his first NHL game on December 21 against Tampa Bay Lightning which is very ironic because 12 years to that date I was offered a job with the Lightning because at the time, my boy felt there was no place to hockey down in Florida.”
“It’s great that he’s made it to the NHL but I’m more proud that he (Brandon) has become a fine young man more so than a hockey player. It was a proud moment as my wife and Brandon’s brother flew down to Tampa to watch his first game, my sister-in-law also went and all the family members watch it on TV back home. It was a very proud moment for the family,” says Nolan during his teams visit to Edmonton.