The games scheduled for December 27 to December 30, will be played in the Canadian Multicultural Hockey Tournament (Championships).  This could form the basis of a multicultural league within the next few year if interest in the format continues.A total of 60 games will be played in the four-day tournament with the schedule being evenly divided between four arenas in Toronto – Scarborough Centennial, North York Centennial, Weston Road Arena and Ted Reeve.  The team that wins the tournament championship will have their players’ names inscribed on the cup, which will be on display in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

To bring all this off, a small group of people, lead by Television Executive Producer Stanley Papulkas, has been working feverishly behind the scenes for most of this year establishing the Canadian Multicultural Hockey League (CMHL), to organize teams, arrange schedules, devise rules and regulations and setting up promotions.         

All this is a dream come true for Papulkas, the television producer who himself is the son of immigrant parents.  He’s had the idea of a multicultural hockey league percolating in his mind for nearly twenty-five years. Time wasn’t right In 1981, Papulkas started working for CFMT Multilingual Television (now called OMNI), as an isolation director for live broadcasts of Canadian Italian Hockey League games.  He approached Louis Janetta, President of the Canadian Italian Hockey League about setting up games between communities, but the time wasn’t yet ripe for such a venture.  But the time came a few years later, in the mid 1980’s when the Macedonians and the Italians what became an annual charity match between their respective all star teams “Those games drew 3,000 fans and this is when I knew that this concept would work” he said.   Still, the timing wasn’t right. 

But that soon came, with, all of things, a soccer game.The occasion came when Greece played Portugal in the European Cup soccer championships.  “I knew the timing was right when the celebration began on the Danforth with Greece’s victory, he said.“But not only did the Greeks celebrate, the Portuguese joined the Greeks on the Danforth and the Greeks in turn went to the Portuguese community to celebrate there,” he said.  “We were celebrating as Canadians!”Papulkas decided that he was no longer going to talk about it, but to get on with it. 

He took his proposal to the multicultural communities, and response he got sealed the deal.  A Finnish hockey team called The Finnishers was the first to agree to join the league.  So did a Russian team called “The Kremlins” as well as the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans.  Papulkas admitted he was surprised at the response he was getting.  “What started out trying to get six teams, turned out to be eight, then ten, then twelve and then sixteen.  I had to stop.  We didn’t have enough ice or manpower to continue,” he said.The result wasn’t surprising since multicultural Toronto had become one of the most diverse cities in the world.  In 1961 visible minorities only made up three percent of Toronto population. 

Today, 60% of the residence surveyed identified as belonging to a minority group.  Over 100 languages are now spoken in the Metro Toronto area.  Hockey has obviously had a Canadianizing impact on many of the communities, and Papulkas has seen evidence of that first hand.Inquiries about the league poured in, with a lot of surprises.  “I’m very proud of having a South Asian team in the tournament” he said.  “A lot of people will be surprised at the quality of players they have on their roster.”Papulkas said he also got inquiries from a Guyanese team, a Lithuanian team as well as some teams made up of Filipinos and Australians.  And some groups decided not to join as they felt they weren’t good enough at this time.  “I had a few communities decline, because they didn’t believe they could compete at a high level,” he said.  “Some communities were just too new for hockey, others just too small.”And for some groups, the time wasn’t right or they didn’t fit the league’s requirements.  Some had difficulty in meeting the league’s requirements that all players must come from their respective heritages.           

“The Jewish community really wanted to be part of the tournament, but declined because the final game was scheduled on a Friday afternoon which could lead into their Sabbath” he said.It’s not about country versus country; it’s about Canadians playing CanadiansA number of American teams also wanted to come into the tourney, but Papulkas said he had to turn them down.  “I had to decline because this tournament is not about country versus country.  It is about Canadians playing Canadians.  If an American team entered from the US, then we would defeat the purpose of this tournament.”  Papulkas also counted on established leagues to form the core of the soon-to-be created multicultural league. 

The Japanese Canadians have had a community-based league since the 1940’s, the longest-running league established in 1961 at still running at George Bell Arena in Toronto.  But even the Japanese team General Manager, Wayne Yamashita, had doubts about joining the league, despite the long history in the community.  “When I went to the first meeting, I thought the (hockey) level was going to be too high.  In our league, there are not many younger players out there, and if there are, they weren’t that good,”  he said.             

“So I told Stan that I couldn’t do it, but he called me to reassure me that there was talent out there,” he said.  “So, I phoned around and found that a lot of friends kids were old enough to play and found a lot of AAA and AA players among them,” he said.  An unexpected benefit has come from forming the team.  It’s great because a lot of these players never knew or play with other Japanese Canadians,” Yamashita said.The Italian league has also been running since at least the 1950’s or 1960’s. 

The Macedonians had a league that last twenty five years.  It is now trying to re-start the league as a result of new interest coming as a result of the multicultural tournament.  The Chinese, under Jeff Chang, not only have a strong team, but also run an Asian Hockey Tournament for the last 15 years. With such established roots, some strong players have emerged from the communities. 

Ex-Leaf Peter Zezel plays for the Serbian team.  Another Ex-Leaf Nikolai Borchevski has suited up with the Russians.  Mark Osborne, the spokesman for the Tournament was planning to join the Ukrainians, but the group had to decline the invitation because the team could not be put together in time.  But Papulkas said former NHLers wouldn’t overrun the league.  He says league rules were established to limit to one the number of NHLers allowed per team.  However, hockey talent will be quite evident at league games, despite a ban on the pros.  Many players on the teams have played major or tier 2 junior, university or college level hockey, creating some speedy skilled play.           

The response to the new tournament has been positive, to say the least.  “There’s a lot of interest in it,” said Chang, the Chinese team’s General Manager.  “It will be nice to see where the Chinese community places as we are not traditionally known as a hockey power.” A fantastic idea to promote our great game to non-traditional hockey playing communities Ex-Leaf Mark Osborne agrees.  "It is a fantastic idea to promote our great game in the world’s best hockey market to non traditional hockey playing communities.”  As for future, Papulkas admits he has done some crystal ball gazing “I’m not going to tell you it hasn’t crossed my mind” he says.  “But first things first.  Toronto has the most diverse communities.  But there could be leagues in Montreal and Vancouver.  How about the winner from each city playing for the Canadian Cup?”

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