In the history of the NHL, only about 80 players have been of indigenous heritage. That includes First Nations peoples, Métis and Inuit groups in Canada.

Nailers forward Winston Day Chief isn’t going to add to those NHL totals, but he’s built a successful career for himself at the minor-league level and is one of the leaders on this Nailers team.

Day Chief, 31, is a member of the Blood Tribe, and grew up on the Blood 148 First Nations reserve in Alberta, Canada. It’s the third most populous First Nations reserve in Canada, with about 12,000 people.

“I grew up on a ranch probably 10-15 minutes from a town, that’s where the rink was,” Day Chief explained to me this week. “There was usually just one team on the reserve, maybe two teams depending on how many players there were. We’d do a lot of traveling to other towns.”

Day Chief played junior hockey in the Junior A British Columbia Hockey League, and played a year of college hockey at the University of Alaska-Anchorage and three years at the University of Lethbridge before making his professional debut with the Rapid City Rush of the CHL (later the ECHL) in South Dakota during Rapid City’s 2012 playoff run.

Day Chief spent four seasons in Rapid City, eventually captaining the team in the 2015-16 season. He remains Rapid City’s sixth all-time leading scorer, with 63 goals and 86 assists in 202 games.

Looking for a change, Day Chief took his talents to a pretty non-traditional hockey market for the 2016-17 season, playing for Budapest in the Erste Liga.

“It’s definitely neat,” Day Chief said of his time in Hungary. “How often do you get a chance to go overseas and live there for a bit? Just to see different cultures, seeing Budapest, such a nice city, it was pretty neat.”

Day Chief returned to the ECHL in 2017-18 with the Cincinnati Cyclones, before signing with Wheeling this season. He’s a much-needed veteran presence on such a young Nailers team.

“We’re so young,” said Day Chief. “This is my seventh year pro, and the majority of the guys, there’s probably only about four or five guys who have played more than one year pro. They’re all first-year. You have to fill in that void in a leadership role because everyone is so young.”

Day Chief is more of a soft-spoken, lead-by-example type. In helping these young players get acclimated to the pro game, much of the work happens away from the rink.

“Once you become a pro, a lot of it is being away from the ice — taking care of yourself, taking care of your body,” Day Chief said. “Just making sure they have to stay on top of taking care of themselves.”

Day Chief can still keep up with the kids on the team, too. Lately, he’s been seeing time on a line with the youngest member of the Nailers, 20-year-old Renars Krastenbergs. Day Chief has been a strong playmaker for the Nailers this season, and one of the more prominent net-front presences. He’s recorded eight goals and 13 assists in 36 games this season.

This season, Day Chief was named to the executive committee of the PHPA, the players association for the AHL and the ECHL. He’s one of the five player representatives for the ECHL, and will attend the organization’s summer meetings.

Day Chief strives to be a role model for First Nations kids as more get involved with hockey each year.

“I’m usually the only guy on the team that’s First Nations,” said Day Chief. “But I grew up with three or four guys that are also playing professionally, as well, that are from the same reserve. There’s just more and more every year.”