By Thia James

Hockey player leaves an impression on and off ice

Apr 28, 2014 | 6:44 AM

File Hills Qu’Appelle’s (FHQ) Midget AA boys hockey team took to the ice on Thursday, led by a captain that the team’s coach describes a role model.

FHQ did not make it to the finals – which were ultimately won by the Saskatoon Tribal Council– but Gordon Wasteste, was a notable presence on the ice, helping the team on the score sheet with a goal early in the game.

It isn’t just Wasteste’s play that has FHQ’s brass impressed, but his effect on the younger players – and the community.

“He’s a real good role model in the room and he does help out the weaker skaters and weaker players,” Wasteste’s coach, Eddie Tawiyaka, said.

And FHQ’s chef de mission Eric Honetschlager noted that Wasteste is a member of the region’s Sask First Team and will also be representing Saskatchewan at the Aboriginal Hockey Championships.

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At the recent Sask First tournament, the 18-year-old winger from Fort Qu’Appelle left an impression.

“The coaches and the chaperones there had nothing but good things to say about his maturity and the way he handled himself, both on and off the ice. So, yeah, it’s really good to have a young man like that around.”

For Wasteste, it’s a pretty good feeling mentoring others.

“I’m a big role model [to] my little brother especially … I just like putting smiles on other people’s faces and [with] what I do … and I think that it’s really important to be a role model in your community, your culture, just to keep it going, I guess. Because anyone can do it, you just need to put time and work in it.”

As a role model, he said he sings powwow and stays sober, clean, fit and in school. “Becoming a better person as well.”

Hockey has had a big impact in his life, Wasteste said.

“Without hockey … who knows what I’d be doing,” he said, added that other kids get have been distracted by drugs and alcohol.

“I think hockey has been a big impact on my life to stay sober and just be a role model, I guess.”

The presence of a mentor-figure is important, according to Honetschlager, because it shows younger people what can be done. He pointed to another athlete within the tribal council, Mandy LaRose, who is being scouted by American post-secondary schools.

“It lets the kids know that they can do it too. And they’re paving the way for us.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames