'So many emotions': Saskatoon Blades hire Indigenous former player as assistant coach
Former Saskatoon Blades player Wacey Rabbit has been named an assistant coach for the Saskatoon Blades.
“I’m really excited,” he said. “There’s just so many emotions going through my head.”
Rabbit was planning on returning to coach a British Columbia Junior Hockey League team in Alberni Valley.
“If any other team in the league or any other team in hockey really, asked me to do this I probably wouldn't have left. The Blades was something really special,” Rabbit said.
Rabbit spent four seasons with the Blades from 2002-06 before winning the 2007 Memorial Cup with the Vancouver Giants. He was born in Lethbridge and is a member of the Kainai First Nation. His hope is to help give back to the Saskatoon Indigenous population.
“The province has grown the game for Indigenous players. I just want to come back and be a part of that and help in any way I can,” Rabbit said.
Rabbit says having an Indigenous person on the bench gives Indigenous people someone to identify with. He remembers when he was younger watching fellow Indigenous player Shane Peacock play for the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
“Seeing someone that kind of came from the same background that looked like me, that meant the world to me,” he said.
Joining him is his wife Ashley Callingbull, a 2015 former Mrs. Universe pageant winner, who is from Enoch Cree Nation. She will be serving as a brand ambassador for the Blades and the Saskatchewan Rush.
“I want to create more partnerships and more opportunities for other Indigenous peoples,” she said. “I can actually make a difference because the work that I do is usually with kids that are at risk or women that are escaping domestic violence.”
She hopes to be talking at schools and at different shelters, organizations, and within the community.
“It’s so important for Indigenous peoples to see other Indigenous peoples rising because it’s so rare to see us in these spaces.”
University of Saskatchewan Indigenous studies professor Priscilla Settee says she was thrilled when she heard the news of the couple being hired by the Blades.
She said they'll serve as role models for upcoming generations and their hiring could help dispel racism, which she says exists in the game of hockey.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Weather alerts issued for 7 provinces, 1 territory
Warnings of up to 60 millimetres of rain and other alerts have been issued for seven Canadian provinces and one territory ahead of the Easter weekend.
He didn't trust police but sought their help anyway. Two days later, he was dead
Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren’t supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found.
Luxury cruise line selling world cruise suite for US$1.7 million
Luxury operator Regent Seven Seas Cruises is raising their price tag to eye-watering levels, with a suite on an upcoming 140-day world voyage costing US$1.7 million.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
A Filipino villager is nailed to a cross for the 35th time on Good Friday to pray for world peace
A Filipino villager has been nailed to a wooden cross for the 35th time to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a brutal Good Friday tradition he said he would devote to pray for peace in Ukraine, Gaza and the disputed South China Sea.
Ontario homeowner on the hook for $27,000 when contractor severed power line
An Ontario man who built a garage on his property has been locked in a battle with his electricity provider for a year and half over a severed power line.
Fluid in eye cells can 'boil' if you watch the eclipse without protection: expert
Millions of people in parts of Eastern and Atlantic Canada will be able to see the rare solar eclipse happening on April 8. But they should only look up if they have proper eye protection, experts say.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
'Oppenheimer' finally premieres in Japan to mixed reactions and high emotions
'Oppenheimer' finally premiered Friday in the nation where two cities were obliterated 79 years ago by the nuclear weapons invented by the American scientist who was the subject of the Oscar-winning film. Japanese filmgoers' reactions understandably were mixed and highly emotional.