OCTOBER 15, 2004
MCC
A Publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe
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www.grandronde.org
Tribe Takes On Winter Hawks
Sponsorship will mean tickets for
Tribal members and a hot spot to get
our message out.
By Ron Karten
T
he Tribe's latest contribution
to the community goes out to
a bunch of kids 16-20 years
old in the peak of health with a big
leg up on the future. The Tribe now
sponsors the Portland Winter
Hawks Hockey Team.
The Winter Hawks are among
more than 50 teams that compete
in the Western Hockey League
(WHL), the top North American
amateur league. In many cases,
the WIIL is a step before the pros.
The kids play great hockey, and
as we learned during a recent visit
to the Tribe's Governance Building,
individually, they are acquiring a
strong public persona, too.
Many will go on to join profes
sional teams. Almost 100 ex-Winter
Hawks have now played in the
National Hockey League, said Dean
Vrooman, who has been the Voice
of the Winter Hawks for 23 years.
And here in Portland, they play
hard and fast, and have won a
hard-core base of thousands of
dedicated fans.
"If they've never been to a hockey
game, I want to challenge them to
come to a game," said Vrooman.
"You got to see it in person. It's not
a good TV sport. Unless you're al
ready a fan. If you think you've
watched it on TV and it was bor
ing, you haven't see hockey until
you've seen it in person," said
Vrooman.
The Western Hockey league
started in Canada half a century
ago but has expanded rapidly to
become farm teams for the pros.
The operation takes kids sometimes
from half a continent away and
puts them up with host families in
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Ice Time The Portland Winter Hawk's Braydon Coburn skates over the Grand Ronde Logo painted under the ice at
Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, October 10. The Tribe has become a major sponsor of the team, hoping to reach some of the
250,000 fans who watch the Winter Hawks games each year. An identical logo is under the ice at the Rose Garden in Portland.
The sponsorship also includes signs, promotions and free tickets. The hockey season goes until March of next year.
the cities where the teams play. It
requires that they succeed through
high school graduation and pays
for a year of college for them for
each year of hockey they play for
See Winter Hawks
on page 8
0
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde
Community of Oregon
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Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347
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Team Pride A fight breaks out as the Winter Hawks goalie, Kevin Opsahl,
is checked to the ice during the Sunday, October 3 game against the Kamloops
Blazers. The Tribal and Spirit Mountain Casino logos can be seen in the back
ground as part of the sponsorship agreement between the Winter Hawks and the
Tribe. The Winter Hawks went on to win the game 2-1 .
o
IX.