The Stanley Cup finals start on Monday, the culmination of a very long NHL season. The matchup between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues is significant for a number of reasons. It’s the first time the teams have faced each other in the final since 1970 when Bobby Orr’s famous “flying” overtime goal won the Cup for the Bruins. There’s another reason why this series is important: the Blues’ Craig Berube, who is of Cree heritage, is the first Indigenous coach to take his team to the Cup final. Indigenous people have a complicated history with the game of hockey and today in The Conversation Canada, we have a tremendous article by two members of the Indigenous Hockey Research Network (IHRN) – Sam McKegney of Queen’s University and Michael Auksi of the University of Toronto. They tell the story of Cree hockey player Eugene Arcand, who played for a team at a residential school in the 1970s. “As such, he understands hockey as a site of prejudice, but also as a site rife with potential for positive change,” the authors write. It’s a terrific read, regardless whether you like hockey or not.

Elsewhere, we look at the evidence that points to Doug Ford’s terrible decision to halt funding for safe injection sites in the midst of an opioid crisis; a legal scholar looks at the difficult issue about whether police and the courts should have access to your passwords and why contradictory messaging on the environment may ultimately cost the federal Liberals.

Finally, former MP Peggy Nash, now at Ryerson University, takes a look at one of the most interesting, controversial and exciting politicians to hit the world stage in years – U.S. congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Regards,