The Grand Conseil de la Nation Waban-Aki announced that seven young Abenaki hockey players each
received full hockey gear from the Goals and Dreams program funded by the National Hockey League
Players’ Association. The event took place on April 5 at the Bell Centre in the Montreal Canadiens
Children’s Foundation luxury suite where our youth, accompanied by a parent, attended a game
between the Canadiens and Red Wings.
At the end of the game, the lucky seven had the opportunity to visit behind the scenes of the Bell
Centre and meet their Aboriginal idol, Carey Price and his wife Angela. In appreciation of the
Canadiens’ goalkeeper, a painting of him in action on the ice was presented to him.
This event was the result of a project organized by the First Nations Child and Family Services
Program (FNCFS) in partnership with the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation. Our young
hockey players were presented to the NHLPA Goals and Dreams selection committee and they were
all selected. To be selected and presented to the committee, these youth had to show perseverance,
sports involvement, and to have played hockey for at least one year and be a resident of either Odanak
or Wôlinak.
This unique experience will remain forever etched in the memory of these young people as well as
their chaperons!

W8banaki Pilaskw June 2014