The hometown Sudbury Wolves hockey club will be showing support for the Indigenous community this weekend when players take to the ice wearing specially designed team sweaters on home ice Saturday night.
This is the second year in a row that the Wolves will be wearing their sweaters with a unique Indigenous team logo.
The new 2024 logo was created by local Indigenous artist Raven Debassige and Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre (SKHC) Creative Director, Melanie Laquerre, said a news release.
Once the game is over, the sweaters will be donated for an auction to raise funds for SKHC, who in turn will act as custodian for the funds for the Urban Indigenous Sacred Circle for Indigenous Youth in Sports and Mental Wellness, said the release.
Team owner Dario Zulich told a news conference Thursday he is hoping this will become a longstanding Wolves tradition.
"I'm hoping that this is going to be the first of like 30 or 40 times to do this. But I'm hoping to be here 30 years from now when I'm my dad's age, and I want this to be a tradition for 30 years," said Zulich.
"This partnership that we have with Indigenous communities is one based on mutual respect, and shared values and a commitment to celebrating the rich and diverse cultures of our indigenous communities and partners in the North. Again, this is more than just a celebration. This is going to be a pledge to say that it'll be a 30-year tradition," he said.
The initiative was welcomed by Jordan Assinewe, the manager of community relations and health promotion at the Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre, and said the centre was honoured to partner with the Wolves organization.
"With our collective efforts towards reconciliation, we celebrate the resiliency of Indigenous people in our community, our nation and on Turtle Island. We celebrate the positive steps we made towards reconciliation. We celebrate the partnerships that we made along the way. And it's our duty to celebrate the similarities and differences amongst all people for future generations," said Assinewe.
He said the design for the 2024 sweater shows the traditional wolf's head logo backed by a red circle which represents the southern doorway in the medicine wheel, said Assinewe.
"Along with the teachings that come with it are the teachings of growth, teachings of empathy, and it symbolizes passion, as well as the logo itself of the wolf this year which represents one of the seven grandfather teachings of humility. So carrying yourself with a sense of pride, free from arrogance, and also carrying yourself with modesty and humbleness with oneself," he said.
Several Wolves players were invited to model the new sweaters showing off the new logo. The sweaters will be worn by all Wolves players in the Saturday night game again that will be played at the Sudbury Community Arena at 7:05 p.m. when the Wolves host the Kitchener Rangers. All the sweaters will be auctioned off through an online auction.
Len Gillis is a reporter with Sudbury.com
