Feature Story: Hockey helped Fred Sasakamoose - and now he's reaching out to youth

Abstract

Fred Sasakamoose, the first Aboriginal player in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1950s, hopes that hockey can help young people the way it helped him. When Sasakamoose, a well-respected Cree Elder, heard that four young people caused almost $100,000 in damage by vandalizing part of the Ahtakakoop Cree Nation, he thought they should be helped instead of punished.