Info regarding the Mi’kmaq First Nation’s role in early ice hockey
In this Hockey Hall of Fame Nomination essay, submitted in early December of 2021, I nominated the Mi’kmaq First Nation to the Hall and suggested that the Hall consider making a permanent exhibit that recognizes the Mi’kmaw’s fundamental role in the true story of early and modern ice hockey. In my HHOF essay I explained that the Mi’kmaw’s “flat thin blade” tamed the puck-like object, bringing order rather than chaos to ‘hockey’ played on ice. The Mi’kmaw discovered the prototypical hockey stick-end long before the first British colonists arrived in Canada, with their grass-adapted playing sticks.
A day later, I forwarded the essay to Canada’s Governor General, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette. In my email I suggested that the GG recognize the Mi’kmaw for their immense contribution to Canadian culture, while noting that no other institution has, even though hockey historians have known of the Mi’kmaw’s integral role since ca. 1872, or for a little more than one hundred and fifty years.
A couple of years later, in 2023, I made a similar suggestion to Halifax’s city council and mayor, noting that the Mi’kmaw’s legacy began in their back yard, and likely Tuft’s Cove in particular.
Finally then, a guarantee (writing in 2025): At some time in the future, a Canadian institution will become Canada’s first institution to acknowledge the Mi’kmaw for their immense contribution to Canadian culture through Ice Hockey.
In the meantime, here’s a 34-second video that recognizes the Mi’kmaq First Nation for the same, and celebrates them as “The First Star of the Sport of Ice Hockey!”
MAP _- Modern Ice Hockey’s Eden
Video – The Game of Hockey- A Mi’kmaw Story. Produced by April Maloney / Co-producer Cheryl Maloney
Joe Cope confirms that the Mi’kmaw players played 10-man hockey with the Halifax and Dartmouth settlers. This was the game that was transferred to Montreal.
Jeff Ward’s Mi’kmaw ice game creation story
Micmac References 2 by Silas Tertius Rand 1894
Thomas Raddall 1954 letter : “First” settlers encounter Mi’kmaw playing their stick game
The Four Stars of Early Ice Hockey 
