Maritime Indian Hockey Association (MIHA)

The Maritime Indian Hockey Association was formed over fifteen years ago through the work of many volunteer committees and their tournmanent co-ordinators coming together for the benefit of organized hockey in our native communities.  The MIHA was set up to provide a safe and harmonious hockey experience for all players and in the process improving the quality of play for both players, coaches and fans.

Over the years, the MIHA has been recognized as the governing body with respect to rules, regulations and the management of both tournaments and native leagues that have been in existence over the past number of years.  This gathering of representatives from various communities has been comprising the Board of Directors Committee of the MIHA and has been running at the grassroots community level for years.  Because of this MIHA Committee, strong input has been received and continues to be very important from all communities involved.

The MIHA has progressed to involve a wide variety of expectations from host committees with respect to improving the quality hockey 'experience' for all players involved in native hockey, both on and off the ice.  It now has strict guidelines that are aimed at curving the violence on ice while improving the speed and quality of play.  The MIHA has spanned to cover most of the Atlantic areas for native hockey, especially in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

It outlines information for players, coaches, managers, tournament hosts and their committees as well as parents and fans exactly what the expectations of the MIHA has in terms of quality of play. 

Years ago, the native hockey scene saw many, many talented players and coaches alike competing for coveted championship trophies and tournaments including the Maritime Indian Hockey Championships (currently not in progress), the Maritime Indian Junior Hockey Championships (which have been held for years in both Brookfield & Truro, NS) and tournaments such as the Wally Bernard Memorial Tournament, held each year in Sydney.   As well, each of the communities that had stronger teams such as Eskasoni, Indianbrook, Millbrook and Waycobah have hosted their own tournaments on an annual basis.  

Currently, there are approximately eight (8) native hockey tournaments each year ranging from the PeeWee level to Oldtimers, depending on the host of the tournament.   It is our hope that through the MIHA, the development for hockey in various levels will increase and that communities will begin to have their own minor hockey systems developing for both boys and girls in the near future. 

We will be posting more information on the website and will have a downloaded version of the MIHA Rules & Regulations for your use - you can get these by visiting the MIHA web site at:

http://mihaweb.tripod.com

For more information, please contact the MYRACL at the contact numbers listed on the main page of this website should you want to host a First Nation tournament and want to be sanctioned as one of the new MIHA Hockey Tournaments.  We encourage that you do this early in the year so that we can include you in the schedule of new tournaments and dates that are posted on this website as well as the MIHA web site.

Sincerely,
Robert Bernard
Executive Director
MYRACL