For as long as she can remember, Summer Rayn Butterfly has counted down the days until March Break.

The school-less week is spent by the 17-year-old gliding around an ice rink 1,100 kilometres from home with First Nations friends she rarely gets to see. The majority of them hail from far-flung corners of the province where they live on reserves or in remote areas with a single arena.

But what brings them all together every year is their love of the game, a deep-seated passion that outweighs the usual teenage March Break yearnings for vacations on exotic beaches or days spent sleeping in to well past noon.

Armed with sticks, skates and plenty of padding, Summer and her Moose Factory Scrapper teammates meet up for the Little Native Hockey League tournament. This year’s iteration, the last for which Butterfly was eligible to play, was spread out across four Mississauga arenas.

It was there that 178 teams of aboriginal children duked it out on ice hoping to follow in the footsteps of tournament greats turned NHL stars —Ted Nolan and Jonathan Cheechoo.

For many, it was their first time venturing out into the big city. Hockey moms toting around spare gear and chasing after young ones who peppered the stands, told stories of their children gaping at skyscrapers and pointing in awe at the city lights as night fell on the GTA.

Years ago, the stark differences felt like culture shock for Summer, who grew up in Moose Factory, an island community located at the bottom of James Bay.

“I remember being amazed looking around at the city when I was younger,” she recalled. “I come from a small town of only 3,000 and this was such a big place with so many people.”

Over eight years’ worth of tournaments, she’s gotten used to the 1,100-kilometre journey from Moose Factory to Mississauga. Those who make the trek contend with Moose River, an unpredictable body of water that can only be crossed by vehicle when the ice freezes over.

They had heard of others who hired coach buses or rallied drivers to get players from small Ontario nooks to Thunder Bay, where they could fly to the city. Event organizers said they even knew of some who hitchhiked their way to the 44-year-old tournament, taking two or three days to get there.

For the thousands who attended, the safe journeys made to the tournament were reason for celebration, but the trek home was tinged with irreconcilable sadness when it claimed the life of a young girl.

Ember Wynne, a 13-year-old bantam player, died in a crash on her way home to Red Rock Township on Wednesday. The teen was travelling along Highway 529 in Magnetawan First Nation when a van she was riding in hit a transport truck, killing Ember, William Tuck, 71, and 3-month-old Myah Kowtias.

Teammates and event organizers said the Atikameksheng Eagles defender was thrilled when the Eagles won back-to-back matches. Event organizers, who shared their condolences about the tragedy, were told Ember was grinning and excited about her performance.

“Happiness and sorry don’t oftentime mix, but in this situation it may,” tournament president Marvin Assinewai told the Star. He noted that Ember’s life had been honoured on the tournament’s final day with a traditional blanket ceremony and other fundraising activities planned by the Anishinabek Nations.

Despite the heart-breaking incident, he said players stayed strong and still took the rinks in Ember’s honour.

“It’s all about the love of the game and being out on the ice,” he said.

Caitlyn Alisappi, Summer’s teammate, agreed. Her love for hockey got her crammed into a car with her boyfriend and a pack of other boys on a non-stop, full-day ride to Mississauga.

“I play back home (in Moose Factory) with boys because there aren’t enough girls to make a team, but here, there are girls and it’s really nice to finally get to play together,” she said.

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Plus, unlike her male teammates back home, the girls she played with at the tournament swapped gossip and went off on a few fun detours, usually involving local movie theatres or shopping malls.

“Whenever I text the girls to get them out to a game early, they are always shopping,” said Scrappers coach and Summer’s dad, Mark. “A lot of them don’t have big malls back home or all the stores the city does.”

He admitted to ribbing his daughter about her search for a prom dress in between games, but it didn’t affect her play.

She scooped up the tournament’s MVP award minutes after a nail-biter 1-0 championship win for her team.

When the buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the match, the Scrappers flooded the ice, piling up on one another in a collective heap of relief.

Pointing at the celebrating girls, together at the tournament for one last time, Mark whispered, “That’s what makes the trip worth it.”

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