By Aaron Walker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com When Portage College men’s hockey assistant coach Pierre Sparklingeyes looks back on the Voyageurs’ January exhibition series against the Chinese national men’s team, he doesn’t remember the ceremony of the event. He remembers the pace of the games and what they demanded from a roster drawn largely from northern and rural communities, including Indigenous student-athletes. “That team just came at us and at us,” Sparklingeyes told Windspeaker during an interview in Moose Jaw, Sask. on Feb. 13. The series forced his team to “keep battling through the full 60 minutes of each game.” Portage split the two-game set at the Bold Centre in Lac La Biche, Alta. winning 6–5 on Jan. 23 before dropping the rematch 3–1 on Jan. 24. Sparklingeyes is…






