A year’s worth of bragging rights will be on the line Sunday when Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami faces off against reigning champion Métis National Council in the second annual Tea and Bannock Cup hockey game in Ottawa.
Last year’s game was a close one, said Natan Obed, ITK president and team captain, but the Métis council — which represents the Métis Nation nationally and internationally — emerged with an 8-7 victory.
Obed said he has played hockey since he was two years old. He grew up in Nain, N.L., but in his teens he moved to Montana in the U.S. to play junior, then played four years of college hockey while studying at Tufts University in Medford, Mass.
“Hockey is my first passion,” he said in an interview Thursday. “I imagined that I would be a pro hockey player; I grew up with dreams of playing in the NHL.”
If he had pursued it, “I’m sure I would have found a role, but after university I was ready to use my Indigenous studies degree and come work for Inuit. That won the day. I am really happy with the path that I have chosen.”
He said inspiration for the Tea and Bannock Cup stemmed from conversations he had with his close friend, Cassidy Caron, president of the Métis council.
Caron also played hockey growing up. Between them, they decided a friendly competition would be fun, and the Tea and Bannock Cup was born.
Last year’s match brought out about 200 fans, but Obed hopes this year’s crowd will be bigger.
That first game wasn’t meant to be overly competitive, just a friendly match. Thankfully, Obed joked, “the Métis didn’t bring in all of their NHL players” such as Travis Hamonic of the Ottawa Senators or Connor Dewar, newly acquired by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
This year’s ITK team is made up of male and female players of different ages from all four Inuit regions of Canada.
“We’re hoping that people can come out and celebrate and watch a little bit of hockey,” Obed said.
The Tea and Bannock Cup will be held Sunday at University of Ottawa’s Minto Sports Complex, 810 King Edward Ave. in Ottawa.
The day features a family skate from noon to 1 p.m. — helmets required — followed by the main event from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
The game is “meant to be a fun community event that is inclusive, but also then gives people a chance to get together and celebrate something [they] love,” Obed said.
I’m sure Obed is a good hockey player, but pretty confident of the guy to say he would’ve found a role in pro hockey after playing in D3 collegiate.
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Love the name Tea and Bannock Cup though.
I guess that he meant he would have been able to find a role with an organization at some level, rather than a playing spot on an NHL roster.
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I know we all love criticising Obed all the time, and I am not a big fan of his overall, but I can see him being competent enough an ex player to end up in some kind of front office position for AHL/CHL etc level play.
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Some of the best front office people come from mediocre players of a sport, while some legendary players often end up being terrible GMs/coaches/scouts etc.
Gee, it’s like he went to school to for his studies and not to pursue a professional career in hockey.
Having played with him, he’s got the brains and the know-how to have made it very far, but we’ll leave it to people like you who don’t really know the guy to make these I’ll informed comments.