A Beautiful Jersey

If there's one thing that I appreciate more than anything else when it comes to the CHL's Memorial Cup tournament, it's the jersey that the hosts wear to honour the veterans, servicemen, and servicewomen of the Canadian Armed Forces who participated in World War I. Established by Captain James T. Sutherland who was serving overseas while being President of the Ontario Hockey Association "to honour all the young Canadian hockey players who died in battle", the Memorial Cup has become Canadian major junior hockey's biggest prize. With the WHL's Kamloops Blazers hosting this year, the jersey above is what will be worn in tonight's game by the Blazers as they face the QMJHL's Quebec Remparts in the tournament's opening game.

As you'll notice, the jersey is quite unique in that it features "the Legion Poppy on the centre of a dreamcatcher — their coupling acknowledging the efforts and sacrifices of veterans from all Indigenous communities." I didn't go all the way back in the history of the Memorial Cup, but having this jersey honour Indigenous communities might be the first of its kind, and I applaud the Kamloops Blazers for honouring the military history of the tournament while recognizing and honouring Indigenous Peoples who served this nation in the most courageous way.

As the Blazers' release states, "Featured as the backdrop for the poppy is a dreamcatcher, which has become commonly recognized as an Indigenous symbol. Hanging from the bottom are two feathers with an inukshuk, while a Métis sash has also been incorporated around the whole outside of the dream catcher."

They also note in the release that "nearly 15,000 Indigenous people have been identified who served in the First World War and Second World War, and more than 2,500 Indigenous Canadians serve in the military today," and that "First Nations people joined the national efforts and volunteered for the military, and more than 4,000 First Nations men enlisted in each World War, the majority as volunteers."

I am always impressed with teams and franchises that push ahead without needing prompting to honour the Indigenous communities whose contributions seem to have been lost in the sands of time, and what the Blazers did here deserves some commendation and kudos. They could have simply honoured the military branch closest to them in CFS Kamloops which closed in 1988, but the Blazers went one step further by honouring their military past and honouring the current tenants of the site. In March 2012, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada returned the land to the Tk'emlups Indian Band from whom it had been expropriated and it officially became part of Kamloops Indian Reserve No. 1 in July 2012.

The Blazers honoured that history by having the jersey deliver to and unveiled at the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc Powwow Arbour where the jersey was presented to both Tk'emlúps Kúkpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir and Vic Fraser, a knowledge keeper of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc. By incorporating the past and present history of CFS Kamloops, the Blazers have indeed honoured the military history of their community by acknowledging both the Canadian military history on the land and the Indigenous history of the land. If we're talking about reconciliation and acknowledgement with this jersey, this ceremony is exactly what the reconciliation statements heard in Kamloops say: "the land is located in the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc territory". Kudos to the Blazers for making this acknowledgement, and this ceremony should be the blueprint for future Memorial Cup jersey ceremonies.

As for the game, the Blazers looked good in their jerseys, but the Remparts looked much better on the ice as they hammered the hosts 8-3 to kick off the Memorial Cup. James Malatesta opened the scoring in the game, closed out the scoring, and added one in between for a hat trick while Kassim Gaudet had a pair of goals to pace the Remparts to victory. Logan Stankoven had three helpers for the Blazers as he was in on every one of their goals, but the Blazers needed a lot more on this night.

The schedule picks up tomorrow with the WHL champion Seattle Thunderbirds battling the OHL champion Peterborough Petes in their opening games. Sunday sees Kamloops and Peterborough tangle as the hosts look to get back into the win column in that game while possibly sending Peterborough to an early 0-2 deficit depending on their result against Seattle. You can catch all the action on TSN and RDS - check your local listings!

They may lost the game tonight, but the Kamloops Blazers are absolute winners in my books with this impressive jersey.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!