ST. PAUL — Native American Heritage Month continues with the Minnesota Wild hosting their Native American Heritage Celebration game on Friday afternoon at Grand Casino Arena in downtown St. Paul.
In addition to the hockey game, a mural for the upcoming International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Junior Championships will be showcased, highlighting both Native American and hockey communities.
Ojibwe-Cree artist Shawna Grapentine designed the artwork. She currently resides in northern Minnesota, about eight miles south of the Canadian border in Warroad, and is a member of the Hollow Water First Nation in Manitoba. She was chosen during a statewide call for artists by Minnesota Sports and Events, in partnership with USA Hockey and the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship Local Organizing Committee.
“There was two key elements for the image, and it was connecting the Native American community with what hockey means in the state of Minnesota,” Grapentine said.
“Land of 10,000 Rinks” mural design featuring pond hockey, vibrant colors and Indigenous symbolism.
Courtesy of Minnesota Sports and Events
The mural will be a centerpiece at the championship next month and will welcome international guests to Minnesota. The annual championship brings together teams of hockey players under the age of 20 from around the world. It will take place in St. Paul from late December to early January.
Grapentine’s mural is titled “Land of 10,000 Rinks.” It features vibrant colors of orange as the main backdrop and a yellow sun as a centerpiece.
“I feel like the sun, anybody and everybody can relate to. It symbolizes life and energy and balance and warmth,” Grapentine said.
Her mural design also features imagery of animals and pond hockey among various Indigenous symbols, such as Ojibwe floral. Grapentine says Ojibwe floral tells a story through colors and design.
“I felt by putting the Ojibwe floral flowing in the picture, it was telling the story of the connection of the Native American people, Minnesota, the sport of hockey,” she said.
Artist Shawna Grapentine holds her design of the mural titled “Land of 10,000 Rinks.”
Courtesy of Minnesota Sports and Events
The project is part of Minnesota Sports and Events’ year-long community initiative called Assist 26. The initiative aims to build equity and access across the state of Minnesota. In a press statement by Minnesota Sports and Events, the mural “brings together Indigenous teachings, Minnesota’s hockey heritage, and the natural beauty of the State of Hockey.”
Sky Boucha is chair of Minnesota Sports and Events’ Indigenous Initiative Advisory Committee. She says “Land of 10,000 Rinks” connects Minnesota’s Indigenous peoples to communities through hockey.
“Shawna’s work embodies the vibrancy, teachings, and resilience of Indigenous culture, and we are honored to bring her storytelling to the world stage,” Boucha said in a press statement.
Grapentine says she wanted the artwork to inspire questions from viewers and to educate them in a meaningful way.
“As an Ojibwe person, and being able to, you know, showcase our culture in a beautiful way,” Grapentine said. “They’re allowing me to showcase the culture and all these things, the only way that I know how, and that’s through my artwork.”
The Native American Heritage Celebration game against the Colorado Avalanche is at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.
MPR News reporter Regina Medina contributed to this reporting.
Chandra Colvin covers Native American communities in Minnesota for MPR News via
, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.
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