Ty Mason, 16, a Trondek Hwech’in citizen who played for Saskatchewan, has won a silver medal in the U18 men’s division of the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships (NAHC) in Membertou, N.S.

Mason lives in Weyburn, Sask. and plays with the Weyburn Red Wings in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

This is his first year with the Red Wings. He previously played AAA midget hockey in Estevan, Sask.

Mason talked about his experience at the NAHC.

“It was pretty incredible, honestly. Words can’t explain how much fun I had there and how cool it was to go there and the different kinds of scenery compared to Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia.

“The hockey was really good, a lot of close games, a lot of hard-competing battle games that were really fun to play in and then obviously winning a silver medal – it was an incredible experience. I don’t think I’ve had a chance to win a silver medal at such a high-end tournament in my hockey career yet, so it was pretty amazing.”

One of the highlights for Mason was tallying two goals and an assist in the semi-final game against Team Eastern Door and the North.

The gold medal game was pretty special for Mason and his team.

“In our four round-robin games, we won all four and then ... we got an automatic bye to the semi-finals. Then we won in the semi-finals ... and then we played Ontario in the finals ... we were down 2-0 with (around) 30 seconds left in the game. We scored with 33 seconds left and then with .4 left we also scored to tie it ... and in overtime ended up being scored on.

“I’ve never even seen that happen in a hockey game. It was special,” Mason added.

The winning goal was scored about two minutes into overtime.

“At the time it was devastating,” stated Mason.

“We went all that way to win a gold medal, so obviously it was devastating that we lost but now thinking back, it’s pretty special now.”

Regarding his hockey future, Mason’s mind is made up.

“My goal right now is to play Division One (NCAA) hockey and that’s what I’ve got my mind set to now.”

As for playing in the NHL, “that’s almost every hockey player’s dream, to make the big leagues, so that’s definitely a dream of mine and that’s what I’m working towards right now is to make the NHL or the pro leagues,” related Mason.

Mason may live in Saskatchewan, but his roots are in the Yukon, where his dad Willy grew up.

The elder Mason was also at the NAHC tourney.

“It was awesome. Just to see the team come together the way they did. We had a pretty highly-skilled team and just the way they jelled in such a short period of time was actually pretty incredible; a good experience for Ty. For me as parent, it was pretty awesome to witness as well.”

According to Mason, the Saskatchewan team didn’t have any pre-tourney games, but did hold some practices.

“We had ... two or three weekends set up in Saskatoon where we traveled up there. We would go up on a Saturday morning. We would practice twice that day and then wake up in the morning and then they would practice again and then we’d head back home ... we probably had six or seven practices together.”

“They did a lot of team building stuff as well. They golfed together, they did some curling and some bowling, so there was a lot of activities that kind of brought them together and helped them jell, no doubt about it.”

Mason said seeing his son win the silver medal was “awesome.”

“Obviously, you go there hoping for gold but you just never know the competition that you’re going to be up against ... all week long, we kind of ran into hot goaltenders and strong teams. We had gotten a crack at Ontario beforehand – I think we beat them 6-3 in the round-robin game but we knew going into the final game that it was going to be a tough battle and it was. Their goalie, I think he turned away almost 60 shots by the end of the game,” recalled Mason.

“To watch Ty get the silver medal was incredible. It was deflating at the time – you want to win the gold – but silver is no slouch either,” he added.

The elder Mason thought the final was quite remarkable as well.

“It was crazy. I was watching Ontario’s bench ... when we scored that goal with 33 seconds left it was like ‘ok, this is crazy, probably not gonna happen, but it’s pretty cool’, right, and I was watching their bench celebrating and hugging and as I looked up ice, we scored, and it was like .4 seconds left – it was like, incredible! I couldn’t believe it. But yeah, quite the finish. The boys earned it. So it was good. It was awesome to see.”

Mason thinks his son has a bright future in hockey.

“I think anything’s up for grabs for him. It’s what he wants to pursue. He does all the right things right now, both on and off the ice. He’s very self-disciplined in his schooling and his off-ice training and his on-ice training. He represents himself very well. The sky’s the limit for him.

“He had a big year last year. It was a big learning curve year, being the youngest player in the SJHL, playing against 20 year old men but I think the future’s bright for him if he stays on track the way he has been, he’ll go places. He’ll reach his goals.

“He’s doing everything he can to help himself get to that next level.”