For Indigenous players, ice hockey is a ceremony of its own

Before becoming a writer, Kyle Edwards had dreams of playing hockey … and as an Indigenous player, he grapples with complex feelings about the game and its place in Canadian culture. He explores this in his debut novel, Small Ceremonies. The story follows the Tigers, a hockey team made up of Indigenous teens from Winnipeg. The teens are coming of age in the rink — and the dynamics on the ice often mirror the tensions off of it. Kyle tells Mattea Roach about how sports reflect society, how hockey serves as its own kind of ceremony and why Winnipeg is so special to him.If you enjoyed this conversation, check out these episodes:Ocean Vuong finds beauty in a fast food shift David A. Robertson puts stories at the heart of reconciliation