Shane Peacock stares at a series of photos looking out over the ice in the Enoch Recreation Centre. He's in one of them — somewhere in the early-to-mid '80s, he thinks — during one of his more successful years playing hockey.

"That was a fun year — we won a lot of tournaments. We had a really close-knit group there," Peacock said.

Many of his teammates in the photo are some of the same people he deals with on a regular basis, now as a band councillor for Enoch Cree Nation.

Peacock was one of the main organizers that brought Rogers Hometown Hockey to the nation.

Shane Peacock looks up at a photo of his team (in the yellow jerseys) that overlooks the Enoch Recreation Centre. (Kyle Muzyka/CBC)

In each season, Hometown Hockey hosts Tara Slone and Ron MacLean make 24 stops in 24 communities. The show hosts festivals in each of the communities, with hockey-themed activities.

This year's visit to Enoch in March marked the first time they visited in a First Nation reserve.

The event, in tandem with a monumental broadcast of an NHL game in Cree, was a special moment for the First Nation just west of Edmonton, whose ties to hockey run deep.

"I see reconcili-action," Enoch Chief Billy Morin said. "People coming together in the spirit of moving forward in reconcili-action."

Chief Morin was hard to track down during the event — his up-to-the-minute schedule started at 7 a.m. that morning with breakfast with his kokum and carried through much of the afternoon, meeting with dignitaries and others who needed some of his time.

But it wasn't just a celebration of Enoch — neighbouring first nations brought their young hockey players to play in a tournament.

Chief Tony Alexis from the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation was watching kids from his nation play. Other nations, like the four from Maskwacis among others, all brought their teams up to play too.

Hockey players head off the ice after their game at the Enoch Recreation Centre during the weekend of Hometown in March. (Kyle Muzyka/CBC)

But mostly, they were there to show their support.

"Alexis is here to support Enoch," Chief Alexis said. "Other First Nation communities are here to support Enoch … even everybody in general who loves hockey is here to support Enoch and what they've done."

Chief Alexis travels to Enoch regularly to play hockey himself. It's a central meeting place for many of the nations thanks to its close proximity to Edmonton.

"We're lucky because of the location, and it's our responsibility to foster those relationships in maskêkosihk, which is the land of healing, the land of medicine," Chief Morin said. "We get the good feelings, good energy, when they come help us."

Those who play in maskêkosihk, the land of healing, know the type of healing hockey can bring — even if they don't recognize it right away.

'Heart of the community'

Jordan Courtepatte grew up without a father, who was in and out of jail. His mother, wanting to give him an opportunity to succeed outside of school, gave him the option to pick something extracurricular to play. He chose hockey.

Jordan Courtepatte is the president of the Enoch Cree Hockey Association. (Kyle Muzyka/CBC)

Courtepatte, with the help of some positive role models in his life and his dedication to the game, would carve out a nice junior career and then a semi-pro career. He now works as the president of the Enoch Cree Hockey Association, on top of coaching and going to school at night.

In his work, he hopes to provide opportunities for both his kids and others that he didn't have.

"I just want to give them the best that I can possibly give them for them to have a good life and be happy," he said.

He used hockey as an escape — an escape from everything he was going through while growing up, all the pressures he faced as a teenager, and even to escape the reserve for a little while.

"A lot of my peers, my cousins, friends, a lot of them went down the wrong path," Courtepatte said. "I hate to say it, I was probably heading down there too.

"I was lucky that hockey was my outlet and my escape and I chose to go down that path instead of choosing some destructive path."

Events like Hometown Hockey are essential for youth to see a future outside of Enoch, said Chief Morin.

Members of the hockey community accept a donation from Scotiabank as part of the Hometown Hockey festivities. (Kyle Muzyka/CBC)

"We're a four-by-five-mile box and as close as we are to the city of Edmonton, there's still barriers there that exist mentally and socially," Morin said.

"So when people come into our nation … and we're using hockey as a catalyst, it shows them that there's a bigger world out there.

"I think it's just great that our youth are seeing the vision come to them for a brighter future off-reserve."

In a past life, Peacock used hockey to see life beyond the reserve, too. He has German-Canadian citizenship after playing 13 seasons there in their professional league, the DEL.

Even though both Courtepatte and Peacock used hockey to live off-reserve, both have found their way back home — to the rink where is all began.

"Every time I come into the building, I have a sense of pride," Peacock said. "When we talk about Hometown Hockey, this is the place to be for us.

"It's the heart of the community."