New York Rangers (December 3, 1947, Lester Patrick Celebration in NYC). From left to right: Bun Cook, Ching Johnson, Bill Cook, Lester Patrick, Taffy Abel and Frank Boucher.

One scenario is that Clarence John "Taffy" Abel was born on May 28, 1900, in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, USA as an Indigenous Sault Ojibwe. That is where his birth is recorded.

At age 64, Taffy Abel died on August 1, 1964 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan USA.

There is a high probability that Taffy Abel was actually a dual Canadian American citizen.

There is convincing evidence that Taffy Abel was actually born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, but his father, an attorney wanted his birth recorded in Chippewa County, Michigan, USA.

This location is on the north side of the St. Mary's River right across the river from the USA and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, USA where his parents resided. Both were American Citizens but used doctors on the Canadian side.

What is known is that the midwife who delivered Taffy Abel resided in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.

Canada grants birthright citizenship (jus soli). Canadian law states a person born in Canada is a Canadian citizen at birth. This is set out in section 3 of the Canadian Citizenship Act.

Taffy Abel, referred to a Metis in Canada, was described in a New York Rangers teammate’s book as "fair-complected". Taffy's maternal side was of Ojibwe descent with origins in present day Canada.

Being a white-passing Native American or white-passing Metis, refers to a person who has Native American heritage but is perceived as white by others due to their lighter skin color and their use of only English.

The experience is complex, shaped by historical forces of colonization and ongoing issues of discrimination against Indigenous persons … both in Canada and the USA.

Taffy Abel ceased using white-passing after his 1935 N.H.L. retirement and the passing of his Ojibwe mother in 1939.

"Hockeytown USA" refers to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan USA, and is a nickname for the city that arose from its long history as a hockey community since the mid 18oos.

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan USA gained recognition as a hockey center due to its numerous ice rinks and passionate hockey culture ... and as the birthplace of the Indigenous Ojibwe Hockey Great - Taffy Abel.

In 1976, LSSU and Taffy’s tribe and Hockeytown USA civic leaders named its 4000-seat hockey arena as the Taffy Abel Arena.

Taffy Abel was a superb Ice Hockey player winning an Olympic Silver Medal for Team USA in 1924 and 2 Stanley Cups in a 333 game N.H.L. career from 1926 to 1935.

In 1939 he founded and coached the N.H.L. caliber Soo Indians Hockey Team in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan USA which won 3 consecutive championships. That team is now called the Soo Eagles. They play in Pullar Stadium Arena as Taffy had in 1939.

Indigenous Taffy Abel was voted a member of the US Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973 and is more than deserving of recognition from the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada.

Also known as ‘The Unseen Warrior’, his iconic motto was “I’m in the business of winning.” Because of extreme discrimination and racism in the early 1900s, Taffy used white-passing to avoid being taken to an Indian Boarding School in 1905, to get into the Olympics in 1924 and to get into the N.H.L. in 1926.

As a Citizen of two sovereign nations, his Indigenous rights and his Ojibwe cultural heritage are protected. One: The United States of America. Two: The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Ojibwe Indians.

Three: Taffy Abel’s rights and cultural heritage as an Indigenous person are protected under various Laws - Treaties - Declarations including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - UNDRIP. Canada and the United States are signatories to this important UN Declaration.

Along with the Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, the N.H.L. Commissioner, Gary Bettman, have both denied that Indigenous Ojibwe Taffy Abel broke the N.H.L. Color Barrier in 1926 and was the N.H.L.’s first Indigenous Hockey Player.

However, in 2022 at Toronto’s International Hockey Hall of Fame, Canada honored Racialized and Indigenous N.H.L. Players … but despite public protests, not Taffy Abel, an Indigenous Ojibwe Native American who broke the N.H.L. Color Barrier in 1926.

That’s certainly deceptive, not fair and flat out non-neighborly coming from the USA’s Northern Neighbor. Where is Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation for this Indigenous HERO?

Taffy, along with his mother and sister are listed as Chippewa (Ojibwe) per official US Government 1908 Durant Census Rolls.

He received the nickname "Taffy" because he would sneak taffy into school.

Following his high school years, he played amateur hockey for 8 years. Taffy joined the United States National Hockey Team for the first Winter Olympics in 1924.

There he became the first Indigenous person to participate in the Winter Olympics. He was recognized by his fellow athletes for his patriotism and leadership, helping him become the spiritual Captain (C) of his team and the first Indigenous person to represent the United States at the Winter Olympics by carrying the American flag during the opening ceremonies.

He is still recognized as the only Native American Olympic Flag Bearer in either the Summer Olympics or the Winter Olympics.

Taffy and the U.S. National Hockey Team led a successful tournament run that landed them a Silver Medal at the conclusion of the 1924 Winter Olympics.

However, that Silver Medal very easily should have been a Gold Medal and the real first ‘Miracle on Ice’. It wasn’t a Gold Medal because the USA Hockey organizers (now controlled by the N.H.L.) failed to select and train the best American Hockey Players.

Translation: the USA Hockey organizers lost the championship game in 1924 …. not the USA Hockey athletes.

Following his time with amateur USA Hockey in the 1924 Winter Olympics, Taffy went on to lead a successful professional career. After playing for the St. Paul Hockey Club for three seasons in the USAHA, he moved to the Minneapolis Millers where he helped win the CHL title in 1926.

Following that CHL title victory, Taffy was recruited by the controversial Conn Smythe from Canada to play with the N.H.L. New York Rangers starting with his N.H.L. debut on November 16, 1926 in New York City.

In that first N.H.L. game, which the Rangers won 1 to 0, Taffy and the Rangers were up against the reigning Stanley Cup Team, the Montreal Marrons and Dunc Munro.

Munro was the Captain of the 1924 Olympic Canadian Team that had beat Taffy. In 1926, Taffy overcame that 1924 adversity and beat Munro and the Canadian Players 1 to 0. Yes, Indigenous Taffy Abel was in the business of winning.

November 16th 1926 is the day Taffy Abel broke the N.H.L. Color Barrier which the N.H.L. Commissioner Gary Bettman and N.H.L. Team Owners refuse to accept because they falsely and wrongly say that the Black Willie O’Ree from Canada broke the N.H.L. Color Barrier in 1958. He did not.

From 1929 to 1935 Taffy played with the N.H.L. Chicago Blackhawks.

In the N.H.L. Taffy became the first Indigenous athlete to become a regular N.H.L. player in a sport that had up until then only been played by white Canadian N.H.L. players.

In other words, the 188 players in the N.H.L. from 1917 to 1926, who played in 1 or more verifiable N.H.L. games, were white and of European and Canadian decent.

Prior to Taffy Abel in 1926 there were NO non-white players - NO black players - NO indigenous players - NO BIPOC players in the N.H.L.

As is similar now in 2025, the white N.H.L. Team Owners, the white N.H.L. Commissioner, along with the white Canadian Prime Minister in that earlier racist era ruled over a whites only discriminatory hockey empire.

During his nine-year N.H.L. career, Taffy went on to win two Stanley Cups and is thought of by many Hockey Historians as one of the best ever defenseman in the N.H.L.

At the conclusion of his N.H.L. career, he played a total of 16 seasons of amateur and professional hockey, received an Olympic Silver Medal, won two Stanley Cups, played a total of 333 games in the N.H.L. and was inducted in the US Hockey Hall of Fame, American Indian Hall of Fame and more.

Following his retirement, he returned to his native Michigan and coached ice hockey for the Soo Indians of the Northern Michigan Hockey League (or NMHL) and opened up a tourist hotel and super club called Taffy’s Lodge which he and his wife managed for several years.

Taffy Abel passed away in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, at the age of 64. He is buried there. He was posthumously inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame as a Player in 1973.

Taffy Abel via his mother’s Gurnoe linage is a descendant of Ojibwe Chiefs and Warriors from the early 1800s who negotiated treaty rights along with Chief Buffalo. The Gurnoe and Cadot families were prominent fur traders in areas adjoining Sault Ste. Marie and Lake Superior.

Taffy Abel is a first uncle of George Jones. In addition, Taffy Abel is a great uncle of Indigenous Dr. Aaron Payment on the Gurnoe side.

Dr. Payment is the past Tribal Chairperson for the Sault Tribe of Chippewa (Ojibwe) Indians, the largest Indigenous Native American Tribe in Michigan with more than 50,000 enrolled members in 2025.

George and Aaron are co-leading recognitions for Taffy Abel on several fronts. Locally * Nationally * Internationally * Inter-Tribally.

Taffy Abel and Canadian Lester Patrick (Taffy’s first N.H.L. coach and a member of N.H.L. founding royalty) remained lifelong friends.

The above December 1947 photo is from the Lester Patrick Celebration at Madison Square Gardens.

Members of the New York Rangers hockey team gathered in 1947 to honor Lester Patrick, who was their first manager, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. From left to right: Bun Cook, Ching Johnson, Bill Cook, Lester Patrick, Taffy Abel and Frank Boucher.

In 1960 Taffy Abel attended the Canadian funeral of his good friend, Lester Patrick. The N.H.L.'s Lester Patrick Trophy is an annual award for "outstanding service to hockey in the United States."

The N.H.L.’s Gary Bettman and the New York Rangers owner, James Dolan, have led the opposition toward Indigenous Taffy Abel for this Trophy. To our knowledge, no Indigenous N.H.L. player has ever won this Trophy.

Although Taffy Abel, The Unseen Warrior, passed away in 1964, his spirit of winning and iconic Indigenous Hockey legacy remain with us.

** footnote 1: First Nations - Ojibwe people in Canada AND First Americans - Ojibwe people in the USA comprise the largest combined sovereign Indigenous Nations in North America, which predate by thousands of years, the colonial formations of predominately White Canada (Formed on Dominion Day on July 1, 1867) and the United States of America (Formed on the Fourth of July on July 4, 1776).

In Canada and the USA there are over 10.8 million Indigenous First Americans and First Nations people. Canada’s latest official population estimate is 41,651,653 people (as of July 1, 2025), according to Statistics Canada. Translation: There is a significant Indigenous population in the USA and Canada to form a new 51st State in Canada.

The traditional land territory of the Indigenous Ojibwe people spans across the Great Lakes present day region of both the United States and Canada. 51st State plans and new flags are being readied to reacquire Traditional Ojibwe lands from parts of Canada in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and name the new 51st State “Ojibwe” with USA’s peaceful annexation and/or purchase of traditional Indigenous Ojibwe lands in politically and economically weakened Canada.

The new and modern “Ojibwe” 51st State capitol will be in Sault Ste Marie, Ojibwe USA. AKA, Hockeytown USA. Toronto’s Hockey Hall of Fame and other organizations (including Chinese EV - Electric Vehicle manufactures) will be recruited to the tax-free and tariff-free region in or near Sault Ste Marie, Ojibwe USA.

Ice hockey will be the official “Ojibwe 51st US State” winter sport. The “Ojibwe 51st US State” animal will be the “Crane” and not the “Beaver” nor the “Canada Goose”. "O Ojibwe" will replace "O Canada" as the official “Ojibwe 51st US State” anthem. The official “Ojibwe 51st US State” motto will be “Winning”.

Official “Maple Syrup” will only be produced on Sugar Island and via other licensed “Ojibwe 51st US State” purveyors. “Canadian Bacon” nor unhealthy Tim Horton Donut consumption will not be allowed in Ojibwe State Schools. Ojibwe Totum Poles will be placed in front of “Ojibwe 51st US State” offices and parks. There will be multiple modern “Official 51st US State” defenses, including a volunteer army and self-defense force called the “Warriors”. An AI refined Indigenous Tomahawk Missile system will be part of the Ojibwe State Arsenal.

“Ojibwe 51st US State” residents will be provided generous benefits including low cost and free HealthCare - DentalCare - VisionCare if they have some fluency in one of or in multiple of the Official Ojibwe State languages - Anishinaabemowin - English - Chinese.

The official “Ojibwe 51st US State” combined electric Amphicar and canoe will be the Jointly Produced Ojibwe-BYD “Jiimaan”

The “Ojibwe 51st US State” constitution is being drafted and will be voted on November 16, 2026 by qualified Ojibwe Citizens and qualified new / provisional Ojibwe Residents, who pass a background check, and who pay the required nominal processing fee. Ojibwe passports will be issued.

The official “Ojibwe 51st US State” internet domain name is Ojibwe.us

The official “Ojibwe 51st US State” email for potential Ojibwe Residents and Ojibwe Commercial Sponsors is George@Ojibwe.us