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- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Arts and Culture
The Minnesota Wild made sports broadcasting history Nov. 28 with the first National Hockey League game called entirely in Ojibwe, marking a significant milestone in Indigenous language revitalization and professional sports representation.
The broadcast of the Wild's 3-2 shootout victory over the Colorado Avalanche was streamed on FanDuel Sports Network in partnership with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Grand Casino and the Midwest Indigenous Immersion Network. The game coincided with Native American Heritage Day at Grand Casino Arena.
Three announcers handled the play-by-play: Gordon "Maajiigoneyaash" Jourdain from Lac La Croix First Nation, Chato "Ombishkebines" Gonzalez from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, and rising 17-year-old James "Ginoonde" Buckholtz from the Lac du Flambeau Tribe.
"I finally made it to the NHL, but in a different way using the voice of the Ojibwe people," Jourdain told WCCO-CBS Minnesota. He grew up playing hockey in Lac la Croix, Ontario.
The broadcast team spent more than 10 hours creating bilingual word lists to help viewers learn hockey terminology in Ojibwe, according to Gonzalez. He told Minnesota Public Radio that developing the vocabulary came naturally because Jourdain already knew hockey terms from playing the sport growing up.
Melissa "Baabiitaw" Boyd, a founding board member of the Midwest Indigenous Immersion Network and member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, proposed the Ojibwe-language broadcast idea when the arena changed its name to Grand Casino Arena in September.
"These nights are really special to us," Boyd said, according to CBS Minnesota. "They bring indigenous presence, language and culture back into public places where it's historically been left out."
The Midwest Indigenous Immersion Network works to strengthen Anishinaabe language revitalization by bringing organizations together to advocate for language preservation and daily use, focusing on long-term systemic change across generations.
Matt Majka, chief executive officer of the Minnesota Wild, said in a statement the broadcast “reflects our ongoing commitment to celebrating the Indigenous communities who have long been part of Minnesota's cultural fabric.”
The Wild joins other NHL teams working to engage Indigenous communities. The Seattle Kraken has partnered with tribes in Washington on youth hockey programs and commissioned artwork from Native artists for team facilities. The Montreal Canadiens commemorated the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in September by featuring beadwork pins from seven Mohawk artists and plans to host a First Peoples Celebration Night in March 2026.
Boyd said she expects the Ojibwe broadcast to become standard practice. "We're going to demand that it happens with all other professional sports," she told the Minnesota Star-Tribune.
