For the past few years, the Willow Cree Chiefs proved to be a competitive force in the Twin Rivers Hockey League.
The Chiefs took over the league spot from the Warman Wildcats in 2022.
The team has made the finals twice in their three year tenure in the league, falling short both times.
This year, the Chiefs fell in the finals to the Allan Flames, but were poised to work hard to again return to the finals next year.
However, this spring, the Chiefs were removed from the league by league members in a unanimous vote.
MBC News spoke with new manager Brandon Thomas about what happened.
According to Thomas, he believes the league failed to fulfill their contract with the Chiefs.
Thomas says when he took over, the team was supposed to enter a probationary period for the next two years.
“It was just supposed to be a changing of the guard, an introductory meeting for the league executive and the league members to get to know me as an individual and go from there,” said Thomas. “We were blindsided when there was a vote to remove us from the league.”
Thomas says they are exploring a legal response to the team’s removal.
“I believe a legal recourse is the only possible way to move forward at this time,” he said when talking about the possibility of an appeal.
Feels team was unfairly “under the microscope”
When asked what was communicated to him by the league as to why the Chiefs were voted out he says he was told it was about “player safety.”
“Our players had said things to other players and other fans and I get it, it’s hockey. There’s heated moments and there’s stuff said in the heat of the moment that probably shouldn’t be said, but that happens everywhere, in every league around the world,” said Thomas. “However, in this meeting, it was like it was only the Willow Cree Chiefs that were, perpetrating these vicious and malicious attacks and saying these hurtful and inappropriate things to team members and fans, and it goes both ways.”
Thomas says often Willow Cree Chief players and fans have been subject to aggressive language as well.
“There were fans that talked about our our players’ wives and and partners. There were fans that used grotesque language against our club. Racial slurs on and off the ice were a common thing,” said Thomas. “So it goes both ways. But, again, Willow Cree is the only team under the microscope right now.”
Alleged serious incident
While Thomas says the league was decently vague about the concerns for player safety, he did say that in a conversation with the league president a more concerning situation was brought up.
Thomas says he was informed of an incident between a Willow Cree Chiefs player and an opposing team’s fan where it was alleged that the player made very serious threats towards a fan.
While Thomas couldn’t get into the specifics of what was said he says the alleged comments were very concerning.
“If somebody had said that to my wife and children, I would have contacted legal authority. I would have went to the full extent of the law to protect my children and my family, but none of that was done,” he said. “There wasn’t a letter sent to the league, nothing was ever mentioned to the Willow Cree Chiefs. And if something of that serious nature actually did happen, why are we only hearing about it at a spring meeting when there’s a vote to take place against the Willow Cree Chiefs?”
He says the team was never given a chance to rectify the situation.
“That’s the first time it was brought to our attention,” said Thomas.
MBC News reached out to the Twin Rivers Hockey League for comment, but has not received a response.
Sad news for Beardys and Okemasis Cree Nation
The Chief’s removal from the league has been another blow to hockey on Beardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation.
In recent years, the Cree nation lost their AAA U18 team, their AA bantam team and the Beardy’s Blackhawks senior team from the Fort Carlton Hockey League.
Thomas says the community is “enraged”, “upset” and “hurt” by this latest loss.
“There has been a lot of loss in a community built on hockey,” said Thomas. “We had a group of people work so hard to bring hockey into our community. My deceased moshum , Harvey Cameron, my grandfather Charles Thomas, and Dave Cameron all worked so hard to bring hockey into our community. Now to have it slowly ripped away from us… it sucks.”
(TOP PHOTO: A photo provided to MBC News when the Willow Cree Chiefs joined the Twin Rivers Hockey League in 2023)