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Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Windspeaker.com
Besides looking to finish his junior hockey career on a high note, Caleb Labelle is also spending time thinking about his academic and athletic futures.
Labelle, a member of Biigtigong Nishnaabeg, a First Nation in northern Ontario, is a defenceman with the Kam River Fighting Walleye.
The Junior A club based in Thunder Bay, Ont. is one of seven entrants in the Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL). This circuit features six franchises from northern Ontario and the Michigan-based Ironwood Lumberjacks.
The Fighting Walleye are the defending SIJHL champions. And they participated this past May at the Centennial Cup, the national Junior A tournament. The Kam River squad managed to win one of its four round-robin matches at the Canadian tourney held in Calgary.
“We're looking pretty strong again this year,” said Labelle, who turned 21 on Jan. 5. “I'm for sure trying to push for another championship, try to go back-to-back and try and go to Centennial Cup again with the group we have this year.” The 2026 Centennial Cup will be staged in Summerside, P.E.I. beginning May 7.
Within the coming months, Labelle will have to decide where to further his hockey career. He’s hoping to become a lawyer focusing on Indigenous law, or a teacher, preferably at an Indigenous school.
This year’s Kam River club is a veteran-laden one. SIJHL squads are allowed up to eight overagers—players who were 20 when the 2025-26 season started.
“We're maxed out on 20-year-olds and we have quite a bit of 19-year-olds,” Labelle said. “So, we're an older group for sure. We have a lot of experience mixed in with some younger guys that are pretty eager to get going and be successful.”
Labelle, a defensive-minded blueliner, has earned 11 points, including three goals, in his first 32 regular season games this season.
With his size, skills and experience, Labelle is hoping to play at the U Sports level, the Canadian university circuit.
He would love to suit up for the Thunder Bay-based Lakehead University Thunderwolves, who compete in U Sports’ Ontario conference, the Ontario University Athletics (OUA). Labelle’s brother Trevor Gamache played at Lakehead from 2010 through 2014.
“That would be awesome to stay in my hometown,” Labelle said. “That would be great if they would offer me a spot on the team. Honestly, at this point, I’d like to go anywhere in the OUA where they have a good program, good schooling and a good hockey team. But it would be a dream come true to go play for Lakehead.” The Thunderwolves are one of the top OUA teams this season.
“It's always been like a dream of mine to play U Sports,” Labelle added. “It’s a great league, especially the OUA. It’s very strong and a lot of good things have happened in that league. Players have advanced to professional hockey, or even outside hockey, they have advanced to great jobs in the future in the work field.” Labelle’s brother, now a teacher in Thunder Bay, has stayed involved with the sport by coaching his two daughters.
Some American-based schools have expressed interest in Labelle’s services for next season.
“There haven’t been any offers,” Labelle said. “But I’ve been talking to a few schools. So, we’ll see what happens. I’m just kind of weighing all my options.”
Kam River's general manager Kevin McCallum is confident Labelle will be playing at the post-secondary level next season.
“I know, typically, interest starts to heat up in our league towards February and early March,” McCallum said of the university squads. “He will play college hockey. It’s just a matter of where at this point.”
This is Labelle’s third season with the Fighting Walleye. He also spent a portion of the 2024-25 campaign with the Pickering Panthers in the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL).
Labelle started his junior career with the OJHL’s Lindsay Muskies four years ago. He only played three matches with the Muskies before being dealt to the Hearst Lumberjacks, who participate in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League.
“He's grown so much as a player and as a person over these last couple years,” McCallum said. “It's been an absolute pleasure to watch. And he's a great kid. He does so much for the community.”
Besides playing for the Fighting Walleye, Labelle is working part-time at Ka-Na-Chi-Hih, a Thunder Bay healing lodge.
“It’s great,” he said of his maintenance work there. “It’s good experience. It’s awesome. You get to learn a lot and it’s nice to be entwined with another Indigenous organization that wants to give back to their communities and give back to Indigenous culture.”
Labelle completed his high school studies in 2023. While he has primarily focused on his hockey career since then, he’s eager to go to university and become a student/athlete again.
“I think it will be an adjustment but I’m ready for it,” he said. “I think the big thing about it is just being mature enough and ready to make a decision on what you want to take and what you want to do moving forward.
“I think it will be a good routine to get into, being a student/athlete and being able to manage playing hockey at a high level and also keeping your academics up. I’m pretty excited and looking forward to that.”