Before college, Laroche suited up for three seasons with Vermont Academy and said going there was “the best decision I’ve made in my life.” She enjoyed the atmosphere and being around a good group of people, despite playing under a different coach in each of her three seasons. They always stayed composed as a team, she added.
Ella Oakes only played one post-grad season at Vermont Academy but overlapped with Laroche’s senior year. They played on a line for a time — “we would beg my coach to let us play together all the time,” Oakes said — and enjoyed playing with each other.
“It always seemed to work out that she fed the puck to me, and then I got it to our other linemate,” Laroche said.
Oakes was happy to play with another Native American, even though they weren’t from the same tribe or territory.
“It feels good to play with your people,” Oakes said.
Oakes went from Vermont Academy to a forward for Saint Michael’s College’s women’s hockey team. However, she’s out for this season following two complete tears in her ankle, requiring reconstructive surgery. She’ll return to the ice next season.
Like Laroche, Oakes started playing hockey at a young age. She was 6 years old, and everybody around her played hockey, too.
“That was the sport,” Oakes said. “It’s hockey here. We have our own arena on our rez.”
She started playing in training camps and she “fell in love with hockey.” In such a small area of Akwesasne, New York, she played with boys before playing with girls at age 10.
Travel was a necessary piece of the puzzle for Oakes as a young hockey player. While some of her teammates lived only a few minutes from the rink, Oakes traveled 30 minutes to attend practices and knows other girls who commuted for hours to meet up with the team. She always wished they had a team on her reservation so they could use their rink, but they also don’t have year-round ice, Oakes said, which made things difficult.
The travel and the challenges registered with Oakes more as she got older and drove herself to practices.
“But when I was a kid, I was just happy to be there and happy to play,” Oakes said.
She’s also grateful that her path has taken her all the way to Division I hockey. Choosing to move away for her senior year and postgrad at Vermont Academy “made a complete difference,” Oakes said.
“Growing up on the rez, I honestly never thought it was going to happen,” Oakes said. “Honestly, I don’t think I would have had the same opportunity if I were to stay here. That’s just kind of the way it is. I know there’s some girls that do go Division I from here, the surrounding towns, but they also had to travel hours just to play on a good team. We just don’t have the resources here.”
Having been a varsity player starting in eighth grade, Oakes knew she was a solid hockey player but thought she needed more competition. She decided to leave home and went to Kents Hill School in Maine. That’s where she got training, year-round ice time and access to strength and conditioning coaches.
“It was just so much better environment for me,” Oakes said. “It felt like that’s when it really took off for me.”
When Laroche was growing up, there were always people in her tribe who were excited to see her pursue sports. Now, she’s a role model for other Native players to see what’s possible.
“They told me a couple weeks ago that it’s motivating other kids, knowing that people like us are making it far,” Laroche said.
Oakes sees how the involvement of Native youth in hockey is growing, too. She knows younger kids are playing and taking the game seriously.
“I love that so much,” Oakes said. “Because I wish there were more people to look up to when I was younger.
“I’m just grateful to be here, a Native American playing NCAA Division I (hockey). There’s not many of us, but we’re still here. And I just want to be a person that these little girls could look up to, because I always wanted somebody to look up to like that.”
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.
National Native American Heritage Month is observed in November and calls attention to the culture, traditions, and achievements of the nation’s original inhabitants and of their descendants. To learn more about Native American Heritage Month visit www.nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov
