By Kathy Gallant

M.L. athlete happy to be part of Team Sask. at Aboriginal Hockey Championships

May 17, 2018 | 12:00 PM

She’s still adjusting time zones, but despite her jet lag Meadow Lake’s Martina Desjarlais is still on cloud nine from her experience at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships.

She was a member of the bronze medal-winning Team Saskatchewan at the event, which took place at the Membertou First Nation in Nova Scotia May 4-14. This was her first time participating in a national event, and the 15-year-old said she loved it from start to finish.

“It was fun. I met lots of people, tried new things,” Desjarlais said. “We played six games in total; I feel good about our bronze.”

Desjarlais said she was proud to represent Saskatchewan. The team’s helmets were adorned with CB in memory of the late Colten Boushie, and also a Humboldt Broncos logo to support the community.

“We just wanted to show respect,” Desjarlais said.

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Desjarlais said the tournament was a great chance to learn new skills from other players and a lot of great coaches. Even though most of them hadn’t played together before the tournament, she said they quickly became a team.

“It was nice,” she said. “We got to learn a lot about each other, and we’ll be friends for a long time now.”

Desjarlais said she will definitely try out for a spot on the team for next year’s event in Whitehorse.

Other local athletes at the tournament included Kylie Lariviere from English River First Nation, Destiny Fiddler from Waterhen, Skylar Olsen from Meadow Lake, Deni Kantel from Loon Lake, and Roddy Ross from Canoe Lake Cree Nation.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 12:56 p.m. on Thursday, May 17, 2018 and again at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, May 18, 2018 to correct errors. A previous version of this story listed incorrect home communities for two players and incorrectly spelled Kantel and Ross’ names.

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @ReporterKath