Windspeaker Sports Briefs - August

By Sam Laskaris

Memorial unveiled
A memorial stone was unveiled in July at the Alderville cemetery in Ontario in honor of former Aboriginal running star Fred Simpson.

Simpson, who was nicknamed the Ojibway Thunderbolt, represented Canada at the 1908 London Olympics. He placed sixth in the men’s marathon race.

Simpson, considered one of the country’s best long-distance runners of his era, died in 1945. He is buried at a cemetery on the Alderville First Nation, the small community where he was also born, located about 30 kilometres north of Cobourg.

To honor his running accomplishments, a proposal recently went to the Alderville Community Trust to establish a memorial stone near his gravesite.

The stone was unveiled on July 24, which signified the 103rd anniversary of the date that Simpson competed at the Olympics.

Golf tournament
A fundraising golf tournament will be staged Aug. 4 at Alberta’s Redwood Meadows Golf and Country Club. Proceeds from the event will go towards building the Greater Strides Hockey Academy.

Officials are hoping to launch a national hockey academy for Aboriginal student athletes.

Former NHL player Brantt Myhres is the CEO and president of the academy.

Officials are hoping the academy will cater to high achieving Aboriginal student athletes from across Canada. Besides academics and athletics, the academy will cater to health and wellness and Aboriginal grounding.

Free agent signings
A pair of Aboriginal hockey players will be teammates in the Lone Star State this coming season after signing free agent contracts with the National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars.

Defenceman Sheldon Souray and centre Vernon Fiddler both signed deals with the Stars on July 1, the first day of free agency.

Souray inked a deal for one year worth $1.6 million while Fiddler’s three-season contract is worth $1.8 million per year for a total of $5.4 million.

As for Cody McCormick, another Aboriginal pro player, he won’t have to pack up his belongings and move to another squad. That’s because the Buffalo Sabres re-signed McCormick to a three-year deal, worth $1.2 million per season, also on July 1.

McCormick signed on with the Sabres again mere moments before the league’s official start of its free agency period on Canada Day.

Souray, who is Métis and was born in Elk Point, Alta., is especially looking forward to getting a fresh start in Dallas.

Souray, who turned 35 on July 13, was once considered among the NHL’s top blueliners, having previously starred with the New Jersey Devils and Montreal Canadiens. He then signed a five-year, free agent deal worth $27 million with the Edmonton Oilers back in 2007.

But he didn’t necessarily have pleasant experiences during his return to his home province. In fact, Souray wasn’t even welcome around the Oilers this past season, in part for criticizing the squad’s medical staff following an injury-plagued year.

As a result, Souray, who has played a total of 684 NHL contests during his career, found himself in the minors this entire past season, toiling for the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears.

The Oilers then bought out the remaining year of his contract making him a free agent once again.

Fiddler, a 31-year-old Edmonton native who is Métis, also has plenty of NHL experience. He’s played in 475 contests with the Nashville Predators and Phoenix Coyotes.

Fiddler, a strong two-way player, is considered one of the NHL’s better faceoff men as well as being a fairly decent penalty killer.

McCormick, a 28-year-old Chippewa who was born in Mount Brydges, Ont., has bounced between the NHL and AHL since turning pro in 2003.

He’s appeared in 285 NHL games. Prior to joining the Sabres’ organization in 2009, he had spent portions of five seasons with the Colorado Avalanche.

McCormick, one of the Sabres’ toughest players, appeared in 81 matches this past season and had a team-high 142 penalty minutes. He also contributed offensively with 20 points, including eight goals.

Wood Buffalo awarded games
Wood Buffalo, a regional municipality in northern Alberta that has a large Aboriginal population, has been awarded the 2015 Western Canada Summer Games.

The games, which will be held over 10 days, are expected to attract more than 2,200 participants.
Besides Alberta, athletes from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are also expected to take part.
The games will feature 18 sports. The Western Canada Summer Games have been staged every four years since their inception in 1973. The 2011 games will be staged Aug. 5 to Aug. 14 in Kamloops, B.C.