Soo Indians Midget AAA Hockey Club

Indians pick up stakes and move to Big Bear!

The Soo Indians are returning to arena where it all started and where they earned their nationwide reputation as a top quality hockey program: The Big Bear Arena.

The Soo Indians Junior A Team of the NAHL earned National Championships from that arena in late 90s and early 00s. The Big Bear Arena (formally called the Chi Mukwa) is located on the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians reservation directly across from the casino in Sault Ste Marie. After some political differences within the tribe, the Indians gave up their Junior A status and continued with the Midget AAA program moving their home ice to the Taffy Abel Arena of LSSU.

"We've thought long and hard about this move," says Soo Indians GM Mke Kaunisto, "but we believe in the long run the facility will meet our needs in ways that just couldn't happen at LSSU." Kaunisto added, "We will forever be grateful to LSSU for accommodating us when we were essentially homeless. There are some class people in that organization."

Indians looking forward to next year

(courtesy of Soo Evening News)

SAULT STE. MARIE — The Soo Indians Midget AAA hockey team met its major goals this past season.

The Indians earned home ice for the state playdowns, won their best-of-three playoff series to advance to the state championship tournament, and helped move some of their players to higher levels of hockey.

"That's what we shoot for," Indians coach Jerry Harwood said. "Those are our major goals every season. The wins and losses change every year, and that doesn't tell the whole story of what was accomplished. We want to get the most exposure we can for our players, and give them the best hockey experience we can while they are in Sault Ste. Marie, so they can be successful wherever they go."

Former Player, Ray Kaunisto, signs with LA Kings

Kings Sign Ray Kaunisto

Wednesday, 03.31.2010 / 6:51 AM / News

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Kings have signed free agent forward Ray Kaunisto to a two-year entry-level contract, Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi announced today.

Kaunisto, 23, just completed his senior year at Northern Michigan University, recording 32 points (18-14=32) and 78 PIM in 40 games. He led the Wildcats in penalty minutes, while ranking second in goals (tied for eighth in the CCHA), tied for fourth in points and tied for first with three game-winning goals. Kaunisto helped the Wildcats to a record of 20-13-8 and a berth in the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament (NMU was eliminated by St. Cloud State in the West Regional last weekend).

In four seasons with the University of Northern Michigan, the 6-4, 185-pound native of Sault, Ste. Marie, Mich. registered 62 points (36-26=62) and 208 penalty minutes in 161 games.

Before his collegiate tenure, Kaunisto played parts of three seasons in Juniors for Cedar Rapids of the United States Hockey League and Soo of the North American Hockey League.

Soo Indians win playdowns; Now Regional Champs!

The Soo Indians hosted S2 Hockey over the weekend at the Taffy Abel Arena for the MAHA State Playdowns. It was a best 2 out of 3 series with the winner heading to Detroit shortly for the State Championship Tournament and the loser heading home and ending their season.

S2 didn't wait long to let their intentions known when they scored just :45 seconds into game 1. The Soo fought back, though, with a goal from Dave Castellion (Matt Samuel) at 4:46 to tie the game.

Indians Take Awards and Honors in NLHL

The Soo Indians finished the regular season with a 5-9-6 record in Northern Lakes Hockey League (NLHL) (15-32-9 overall) play this season ending up in fourth place, just one point behind the third place team, Thunder Bay Kings. This past weekend, the Indians traveled to Faribault, MN, home of Shattuck St. Mary's, to play in the league's inaugural tournament. The results ended the same as the regular season with Shattuck finishing first and the Indians finishing fourth.

NLHL Playoff Tournament

The Soo Indians traveled to Faribault, MN to play in the inaugural Northern Lakes Hockey League Playoff Tournament. After driving all night into the early morning, the Indians had most of the day off to recover from the ride.

They played their first game at 6:15 Friday night against their nemesis, Capital Centre Pride. With Joey Gravedoni in net, the battle ensued. Cody Blom opened the scoring at 4:19 of the first on an assist from Chris Hoffman. CCP capitalized (no pun intended) on their powerplay at 4:19 of the second. They followed up with two more unanswered goals in the second to take a 3-1 lead. Their first and third goals were powerplay goals. Chris Hoffman (Nate Fitzpatrick) pulled the Indians to within one goal at 15:03.

In the third, both goalies held strong and there was no further scoring. Cap Centre took the game by a 3-2 score. The Indians outshot the Pride and Gravedoni stopped 25 of 28 shots on net.

The Indians will now play the Thunder Bay Kings on Saturday at 12:30. TB beat Marquette on Friday by a 2-1 score.

Indians weak in Madison Cup

After a very good showing against Thunder Bay last weekend, the Indians traveled to Madison,Wisconsin to participate in the Madison Gold Cup Tournament. The best teams in the country are there and this is an outstanding opportunity for the Soo to show who they are. Unfortunately for us, we seemed overwhelmed by the showcase and didn't fair so well.

Indians Take 3 from Thunder Bay

After a very disappointing showing in Marquette the weekend before, the Soo Indians rebounded against the Thunder Bay Kings and took three points from them to move within one point of third place in the Northern Lakes Hockey League. Unfortunately, this was the final league game for both teams and their positions in the league will not change.

VOTE FOR RAY!

The Soo Indians have started a two week campaign to vote for one of their former players in the NCAA Frozen Four Skills Competition.

Ray Kaunisto, eldest son of Mike and Bonnie Kaunisto, is a senior at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, MI. Ray's name has been placed on the ballot for fans to vote for the top six players and top two goaltenders in each division. Ray is in the Men's West division.

Each fan can only vote one time, according to the site, so it's important that you pass this message along to all your email contacts (ask them for a favor), post it on your facebook account and most certainly, "tweet" it to all your followers.

Voting closes on February 15. The Frozen Four Skills Challenge will be held in Detroit, MI at the Ford Field on April 9 if you are interested in attending. Whether you attend or not, vote for one of our own...Ray Kaunisto!

VOTE NOW ...and pass it along!

Team Photos are now available for purchase via our sponsor SandMark Photography. In addition to the team photo, we took individuals of each player and they, too, are available for purchase. Packages are set as well as novelty items for your memories.