Canoe Lake Gets Visit From Former NHL Coach

Canoe Lake Gets Visit From Former NHL Coach

Friday, October 03, 2008 at 15:01

Former New York Islanders coach Ted Nolan was in northern Saskatchewan yesterday, speaking at a youth conference in Canoe Lake.

Nolan says now that he’s no longer in the NHL coaching ranks — he has more time to visit reserve communities for various engagements.

Nolan admits he gets a lot of requests to attend functions like this, but prefers visiting smaller centres like Canoe Lake — because he came from a small reserve.

Nolan says dealing with isolation from home communities is a major obstacle Aboriginal hockey players deal with — as is racism.

But Nolan says it’s important that Aboriginal youth trying to climb the ladder in the world of hockey learn to be resilient and to avoid the temptation of quitting in mid-season.

Nolan adds that even though he’s no longer in the NHL coaching ranks — he’s hoping he’ll one day get another opportunity.

Nolan won the NHL’s coach of the year award in 1997.