Joey Payeur
Usually, it’s the older sibling that influences the younger one.
In this case, though, it was the little brother who caught his big sister’s attention.
Couchiching First Nation band member Brayton Levesque, who lives in Fort Frances, attended the 46th-annual Little Native Hockey League tournament in Moose Cree First Nation from March 13-17.
He was making his second-straight appearance at the massive event that featured a record-breaking 204 aboriginal teams in multiple divisions.
But the young netminder had familiar company this time with the presence of his sister, Kaylyn, who played in the tournament for the first time in her inaugural year of competitive hockey.
“I watched Bray come back the last time he went and it seemed he had a really fun team, got to meet new people, and make lots of friends,” Kaylyn said about her brother’s trip last year for the tourney in Mississauga.
Their mother, Amanda, added Kaylyn’s name to the pool of candidates the same way she threw her son’s name into the hat last year, when he ended up getting picked up by the Wikwemikong (Wiki) T-Birds.
While Brayton rejoined the Wiki squad in the competitive Atom division, his sister was snapped up by the MJ’s Mississauga Eagles to play defence for the Bantam squad in the recreational division.
“It was really fun,” she enthused. “I liked it a lot I think because I was in the recreational division, not the competitive division like Bray, which was good with it being my first year.
“It was kind of overwhelming at first with over 200 teams there,” she admitted.
“But it’s good they have two different divisions because that allows more people to compete.”
Both players didn’t come home empty-handed, either.
Brayton guarded the cage well enough to lead the T-Birds to the ‘A’-side final before ending up with the silver medal.
“It was a great experience for me and for them, too, I guess, as they don’t remember the last time they made the final,” he noted.
“I played better than I thought I would do after a long road trip,” he added, referring to the 18-hour, one-way trip by vehicle.
Kaylyn, meanwhile, earned the same colour of medal as the Eagles placed second in the ‘B’ side.
“I think I played really good and certainly the best I’ve played the whole year,” she remarked.
Amanda Levesque floated the idea of Couchiching First Nation putting in a team or teams of its own at some point.
“Maybe it’s something our area could look at doing in future years,” she suggested.
Other local players known to have attended this year’s tournament included Trent Hunter and Ethan Rose (PeeWee AOK Eagles).
Those on unidentified teams included Muskie girls’ team members Annalise (CC) Hayes and Emily Kaun, along with Anthony Yerxa, Savannah McGinnis, Kael Archie, Saizha Norwegian, Ziggy Skead, and Kendra Calder.
