Montour gets hometown hero’s welcome on Six Nations

Brandon Montour was a bit apologetic as he greeted several hundred Six Nations well-wishers on Thursday night.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t quite get it done,” the Florida Panthers defenseman told the crowd about his first foray into the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup finals in June.

The crowd didn’t care.

They were there to support a family member, hometown hero and sports inspiration as they lined up to get a Brandon Montour signature on items that included large Montour jersey lawn signs that had been sold during his games.

Chief Mark Hill announced a fundraising initiative that had raised $10,000 would be divided among five Six Nations sports organizations and Montour presented each of the giant checks and posed with members of the groups.

Montour, now 29, grew up playing lacrosse on Six Nations but excelled in hockey as well. A junior player with the Brantford Golden Eagles and Caledonia Corvairs, he signed with the Anaheim Ducks in 2018 and was later traded to the Buffalo Sabers. Traded to the Florida Panthers in 2021, he helped the team make it to the Stanley Cup final this past season where Florida lost to the Vegas Golden Knights.

It was later revealed he was playing through the playoffs with an injured shoulder. With surgery completed, Montour is now enjoying time off with his wife Rylan and their new eight-week-old baby Kai, who were both in attendance Thursday night for the celebration.

Montour became a huge sports story as he raced by small plane from California to Florida between Game 1 and Game 2 in order to be present for the birth of Kai.

“I heard from family and friends about the support here and the watch parties,” Montour said. “Anytime I hear something like that it gives me a little extra boost of wanting to play hard and play for them.”

And Montour is all about the community.

He and Burford’s Adam Henrique, who played several seasons with Montour as an Anaheim Duck, and is now a Duck’s assistant captain, formed the Henrique Montour Foundation to find ways to give back to their Brant County and Six Nations communities.

“That’s what it’s all about,” said Montour Thursday, when asked about the youngsters who are now looking up to him and his success.

“I was in their shoes at one time. Part of being a freshman athlete and having success is you’re going to have kids that look up to you. Seeing myself and other players that have made it gives them that extra jump to know that it’s possible and it’s there if you want it.”

But Montour said the journey isn’t easy.

“You have to work extremely hard. You have to love what you do and keep increasing your skills. The work ethic is huge.”

One of Montour’s cousins, Ashley Lickers, was at the celebration wearing her Montour jersey.

“We’re very proud of him for all he’s accomplished,” said Lickers.

“My daughter really looks up to him so we’re here to support and congratulate him.”

Another fan, Claudia House, said she was proud that someone from Six Nations made it to the NHL.

“My boys both play hockey, too, and we went to all the watch parties.”

All of Six Nations is proud of Montour, said Chief Mark Hill.

Hill said seeing someone from the small community have such success has been an inspiration and has drawn the community together.

The Six Nations council quickly organized the parties for watching the playoff games, including one where the power was out and the community crammed into the large Gathering Place auditorium to watch on generator-powered screens.

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