The spirit of the late, great Fred Sasakamoose – the first treaty-status Indigenous NHL player to ever grace the sport of hockey – has been cast in bronze thanks to the capable hands of Cochrane’s own Studio West Foundry.
A life-size statue of the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation man was unveiled last week at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, Sask., opposite of a commemoration to Gordie Howe that went up in 2016.
“It was meaningful and emotional for the people of his community, his family and to non-Indigenous people in Saskatoon,” said Studio West co-owner and artist Shirley Begg. “There were tears, there were hugs, there were people who walked up to it and you could see it touched them.”
Sasakamoose means so much to the people of Saskatchewan that the province officially named the day the statue was unveiled – May 18 – after him.
After spending the 1953-54 season playing 11 games for the Chicago Blackhawks – in a year when there were still just six teams in the NHL – Sasakamoose went on to play hockey at the minor level for a few years before he retired from playing the sport competitively.
He then spent the better part of his life dedicated to encouraging young people through sport and breaking racial barriers for Indigenous players in the NHL. He also became chief of his First Nation.
He died in November 2020 at 86 years old, after being hospitalized with COVID-19. Following his death came the post-humous release of his book, a memoir titled: Call Me Indian: From the Trauma of Residential School to Becoming the NHL’s First Treaty Status Indigenous Player.
“We were so honoured to be doing this tribute to such a remarkable person,” said Begg. “The other half was to do it right.”
Begg and her husband, Don, said that like so many others they’ve done in the past, authenticity is what makes the statue special.
“Those were the skates at the time, that is the stick, that was the [Blackhawks] logo when he played, and the headdress is absolutely accurate,” said Begg.
Together, the married couple from Cochrane spent countless hours sculpting out every meticulous detail until they felt it what was just right, sending updates to Sasakamoose’s family over the course of a year.
The Beggs coordinated the installation of the statue the night before its unveiling and were able to be in attendance in Saskatoon when his family and hundreds of others, including various First Nations chiefs from the surrounding area and NHL representatives, arrived the next day.
“It was the greatest respect for Fred,” said Don. “They had a sweetgrass ceremony with a prayer and they tied a feather to his hockey stick. It was really an honour for us to be part of that.”
The statue was commissioned by Synergy 8 Community Builders, Saskatoon Tribal Council and the Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs.
