The White Bear Memorial hockey tournament began this past Saturday with a spiritual centered opening ceremony. During these ceremonies, prayers were said, as some of the men of the communities played the traditional native drums.The tournament was to celebrate the life of Rob Big Eagle, a big sports lover, who passed away five years ago.He was known to love hockey the most, and played with the likes of Jimmy McKenzie and other NHL stars."Rob always played with heart and that's why today we will play fair, and have no injuries," said the announcer.Rob's first grandson, Daine Thomas, had the honour of dropping the first puck.It was a full day of hockey as 14 games were played amongst the eight teams. Although the majority of participants were locals, a few other teams made their way here from South Eastern Saskatchewan, including a large team from Moose Mountain.The tournament was put together by Rob's family, following the success of last year's baseball tournament."The boys just wanted to play hockey," said Vanessa Big Eagle, Rob's wife.Cash prizes were given to the top three teams. First prize was a large sum of 2,000 dollars. Even with large amounts of money at stake, that didn't seem to be on anyone's mind."We wanted to come together as a family to honour him in the way of playing hockey, which Rob always loved," said Vanessa.This is said to be the first of a traditional five tournaments, which the residents consistently do.
The very successful tournament was sponsored by the Bear Claw Casino.
