REGINA (June 20, 2025) — Brent Dodginghorse was named the Canadian winner of the 2024-25 Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award on June 9.

On Sept. 30, which is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Dodginghorse, a member of the Tsuut’ina Nation near Calgary, will be honoured by the non-profit Western Canada Professional
Hockey Scouts Foundation at its Celebrating Indigenous Hockey Legends dinner in Regina. Dodginghorse will join other Indigenous hockey legends like Kalley Armstrong, Ron Delorme, the
King brothers, D.J. and Dwight, Jon (Nasty) Mirasty, Rich Pilon, Jordin Tootoo, Hall-of-Famer Bryan Trottier and Dave (Tiger) Williams at the dinner that is to be held at the Conexus Arts Centre. The evening’s entertainment will include a couple of hot stove sessions, with Dodginghorse expected to take part in one of them.

The prestigious Willie O’Ree Community Award — O’Ree broke the colour barrier in the NHL in
1958 — has been around since 2018. It was split into two awards in 2023 with two people now being
honoured each year, one in Canada and the other from the U.S. According to the award’s mission
statement, it honours those who, through the game of hockey, have positively impacted his or her
community, culture or society.

From NHL.com: “Dodginghorse is the co-founder of the DH Ranch, which has an educational
program to promote greater respect, understanding, and appreciation for fellow hockey players
regardless of race, ethnicity, or ability. The program has been taken by nearly 4,000 people since 2019.

Tsuut’ina, which has two traditional meanings: ‘the beaver people’ and also ‘many people,’
uses the spirit of the horse to teach students about Indigenous culture and history, encouraging
greater harmony among teammates, classmates, friends and neighbours.”

He and his wife, Sonya, operate the DH Ranch on Tsuut’ina. They use horses in their camps for
children and also in team-building programs.

As Dodginghorse explained to Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson: “The horses are the big teachers for us, because they teach us communication. They teach us so many aspects of that area. Horses are the big teachers on diversity, because they don’t speak. Everything is body language or body communication. So if you come at them too aggressive, they’re either going to fight you, flight, freeze or fawn, which means they’ll hide behind people. So those horses taught me a lot about communication, and that’s what we teach people when they come to the ranch. They also learn to overcome obstacles, because a lot of people are frightened of horses. So these horses are teaching confidence, communication and teamwork. Our program is built around those aspects.” “We give these people, whether it’s kids or adults, an opportunity to bond and to work together and to learn the important aspects of life. Because how many people ultimately make the NHL? Is it .001? So that opportunity to teach valuable life skills is very important, and especially for the youth, so they can use those skills to be good human beings when they move eventually into school, university or the work world.”

O’Ree, who has input into the selection of winners of the award that bears his name, offered: “Dodginghorse draws from his own experiences to teach others about compassion and understanding. It takes a strong spirit to share personal stories with strangers, but he does it to help make his community stronger. The domino effect of his work is commendable. Congratulations Brent Dodginghorse.”

As a hockey player, Dodginghorse, now 47, spent two seasons (1995-97) with the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers, helping them to a national title in 1996, and two with the Calgary Hitmen, who won the 1998-99 WHL championship with him in the lineup and playing a prominent role. These days, he also is a consultant with the NHL’s Calgary Flames, and he is a former world champion steer wrestler.

The WCPHSF has partnered with the Regina Hotel Association to present the Celebrating Indigenous Hockey Legends dinner, with some of the proceeds going to the Ranch Ehrlo Society’s Outdoor Hockey League, Sask Sport, for KidSport Saskatchewan, and the Circle Project.
Tickets are available at tickets.hockeyscoutsfoundation.com.

For more information, contact:

Garth Malarchuk, WCPHSF chairman of the board
gmalarchuk@torontomapleleafs.com

Mark Stiles, WCPHSF director of donor and stakeholder relations
mstiles@m3sports.net 

Tim Lenardon, WCPHSF co-ordinator
timlenardon78@gmail.com

Gregg Drinnan
Editor/Historian
Western Canada Professional Hockey Scouts Foundation
hockeyscoutsfoundation.com
greggdrinnan@gmail.com