Vancouver Canucks lend Fin, er, hand at OKIB Hockey School in Vernon<\/p>\n
Published 4:00 pm Friday, July 31, 2026<\/p>\n
The Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL) have plenty of fans among elders and members of the Okanagan Indian Band.<\/p>\n
Chief Dan Wilson tells the story of visiting his grandmother Sophie Wilson\u2019s home when a Canucks game was on TV, and he\u2019d get shushed by grandma if he had the audacity to chat with her while the game was on.<\/p>\n
\u201cHad to wait for the commercial,\u201d laughed Wilson. \u201cIf I talked to her during the game, I\u2019d get scolded.\u201d<\/p>\n
OKIB staffer Colleen Marchand had a penchant for wearing Canucks merchandise items to work.<\/p>\n
Marchand\u2019s grandson, in fact, is named Matthias after Canucks legendary defenceman Matthias Ohlund, and there\u2019s a Pavel on the reserve, a child named after Canucks Hall-of Famer Pavel Bure.<\/p>\n
Wilson was happy to welcome members of the Canucks alumni, along with the team\u2019s official mascot, Fin, to the Priest Valley Arena in Vernon, as the band hosted its second annual OKIB Sylix Summer Hockey School July 27 to 31.<\/p>\n
Among the alumni taking part is Vernon resident Aaron Volpatti. The former Vernon Vipers forward signed as a free agent with the Canucks in 2009, and made his NHL debut with the club in 2010-11. <\/p>\n
Volpatti, from Revelstoke, played three seasons with the Canucks and three more with the Washington Capitals. He was among the guest coaches at the school and happy to be taking part.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m heavily involved with the alumni, and when I was approached with this initiative \u2026 it was an easy yes for me,\u201d said Volpatti, 41. \u201cThis school is a great initiative, and it\u2019s great to see the OKIB and the Canucks helping to grow the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hockey school was founded in 2025 by band member Jeremy Holy Rider Tompson of Vernon, and OKIB senior child and youth recreation and healthy activities coordinator Brendan Caron.<\/p>\n
A total of 51 kids took part a year ago. Attendees had full days of on- and off-ice activities. <\/p>\n
There are more kids taking part in 2026, coming from bands in Penticton, Osoyoos, Westbank, and Lower and Upper Similkameen, along with OKIB members, including Chief Wilson\u2019s three grandchildren.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s unique about the school is not only are the kids learning how to play hockey, but they\u2019re learning the Nsyilxcen culture and language.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe culture is well received, and credit goes to the new cultural immersion school that we opened last fall,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cWe\u2019ve revitalized our language within our nation. In fact, it\u2019s being taught now at UBCO (UBC Okanagan). It\u2019s a big part of truth and reconciliation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kids are learning more than I know. We can walk out into the forest and they\u2019ll tell me what medicinal plants we\u2019re looking at with perfect pronunciation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Volpatti \u2013 joined as a guest coach at the school by outgoing Vernon Vipers\u2019 captain, OKIB member Deagan McMillan of Vernon \u2013 of the camp\u2019s cultural aspect: \u201cIt\u2019s huge. We want to grow the game. Every aspect. Every culture. Every race. It\u2019s about giving everyone the opportunity to participate and enjoy the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The OKIB has a proud hockey history.<\/p>\n
Teams go back to the 1950s, where bands would clear patches along a frozen Okanagan Lake and play games.<\/p>\n
Squads from the reserve joined the old North Okanagan Hockey League in the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Head of the Lake Stampeders and Westside Totems.<\/p>\n
Wilson, as a 15-year-old, played for a junior team called the Falcons, a story he shared in 2025 at the inaugural school with special guest Carey Price, goalie for the Montreal Canadiens, and a 2026 inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
Price is from the Ulkatcho First Nation in Anahim Lake, west of Williams Lake.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a class guy signing autographs and encouraging the kids,\u201d said Wilson before the talk turned to native hockey. Price asked if Wilson had ever played against any of his uncles, brothers of his mom Lynda, the former Ulkatcho Chief.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remembered them. They were good hockey players, and we talked about how that\u2019s when hockey was really hockey,\u201d said Wilson, who regaled Price with a story about how, during tournaments, people would check to see when Anahim Lake, from the Cariboo nation, would take on Alkali Lake and\/or Canim Lake of the Shuswap. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat was tribal warfare,\u201d smiled Wilson. \u201cThere were bodies flying everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
The OKIB hosts an all-native tournament every Easter weekend. The 2025 event brought together 27 teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vancouver Canucks lend Fin, er, hand at OKIB Hockey School in Vernon Published 4:00 pm Friday, July 31,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-839914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}