As the father of three hockey-loving sons and the former president of the Orillia Minor Hockey Association, Rick Schell has intimate knowledge of the game of hockey in the lives of most Canadian families.

Now he’s trying to do what he can to collect hockey equipment for children in an isolated northern Ontario community.

Some 25 years ago, when he started his career with the Ontario Provincial Police, Schell helped protect the lives and property of the residents of Pikangikum First Nation.

When the call went out recently from the OPP General Headquarters in Orillia for volunteers to help supplement a manpower shortage within the Pikangikum Police Service, Schell quickly put his name forward.

In doing so, he returned to the region where he had learned so much from the local residents, including an intimate look at the Ojibway culture.

“When I first was stationed there, I learned how to speak Ojibway and so it’d been a long time since I had spoken the language. I was amazed I was able to pick it up again so quickly,” said Schell.

During part of October and November, Schell returned to the north and found the Pikangikum First Nation (population approximately 3,000) in the grips of an ongoing struggle with despair and substance abuse.

But, what he also found were children living in a community with a covered hockey rink, but without sticks, skates and hockey equipment.

Early in his OPP career, Schell was posted to the Weagamow Lake detachment for two years.

During that time, Schell regularly made the 100-kilometre trip from Weagamow Lake to the Pikangikum First Nation community. With the blessing of the Pikangikum band chief and council, Schell has begun the hockey equipment drive. He has received support for his project from the Orillia Minor Hockey Association and is reaching out to parents for donations.

With three growing sons, Schell is well aware that children grow out of hockey equipment at a rapid rate.

“What can do you do with the old equipment?” he said.

While some communities hold used equipment swaps, a lot of equipment usually finds its way onto hooks in residential garages, where it usually hangs unused for months and years.

Like many Canadian families, Schell recently gathered up a bag full of used hockey equipment and stored it away in anticipation of a 2008 garage sale.

Now he plans on shipping that equipment north and hopes other hockey families will do the same.

With the help of friends, Schell has already arranged for transportation to ship the hockey equipment to Red Lake, Ontario.

From there, residents of the Pikangikum First Nation have agreed to transport the hockey equipment to their community.

With the ice rink scheduled to open in December, Schell is hoping the donation of equipment to the children will make for a happier Christmas for all the members of the community.