The Soo Indians Hockey Club will open camp on August 29, 2010 at the Big Bear Arena in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. This is the “official” start of the 2010-11 hockey season!

This season will be the first time in many years that the Indians will be playing at the Big Bear Arena, where their success began in the 1990s and early 2000. During this time you saw players like Ryan Miller (Buffalo Sabres), Scott Parse (LA Kings), and Ray Kaunisto (LA Kings) as the most notable players on the ice while coaches like Joe Shawhan (Northern Michigan) and Rick Corbiere (Soo Indians) led the teams from behind the bench.
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Gavin Burbach and Travis Payne have both signed tenders to play Junior A hockey in the Soo; Burbach for the Soo Thunderbirds in Sault, Ontario and Payne for the Soo Eagles in Sault, Michigan. Both teams are part of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL).

Payne, who played two years for the Indians before moving on to play for the Hudson Crusaders of the Minnesota Junior Hockey League (MNJHL), will join the Eagles this season.
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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.”
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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 Read the rest of this entry »