Kahnawake's Next Wave: Kaymen Diabo on the Hunters, Coquitlam, and Coming Home

Six hours east of Six Nations, down a highway where the road signs switch from English to French to Mohawk, there's a reserve with three golf courses, a sports complex that turns into a barn every summer, and a kid who won a Minto Cup ring before most people outside Quebec knew his name. The Creator's Game went to Kahnawake for Episode 30, and Kaymen Diabo sat down to talk about what it takes to make noise from a community that doesn't always get the spotlight. You know the names that came before him. Trey Deere. Koleton Marquis. Stone Jacobs. Oran Horn. Brian Rice. Kahnawake has been feeding players into the NLL and NCAA for years, but it still flies under the radar compared to Six Nations or even Orangeville. Kaymen doesn't seem bothered by that. He's too busy trying to win the Hunters their first Founders Cup. Key Moments from This Episode [01:08] First stick at five – dad played his whole life, coached Hunters [03:10] The names that made Kahnawake: Goodleaf, Stacy, Deere, Marquis, Rice [05:53] College wasn't for him – tried it, took up welding instead [07:07] Paris Wolves stole him from the Peterborough Timbermen draft [08:46] 29 goals, 28 assists – a true 50/50 player [09:35] How he got to Coquitlam: his buddy said "I know a righty" [17:27] Minto Cup in four years – the hardest trophy in junior lacrosse [22:09] What the NLL actually needs in a player [39:41] Advice for the kids watching right now [54:34] Getting called a res dog in Ontario – racism in 2026 Sticks at birth. Competitive by five. They give you a stick when you're born in Kahnawake. That's just how it works. Kaymen started playing organized lacrosse around five, got into the paperweight system, and never looked back. His dad played junior B, played for the Mohawks, and eventually coached the Hunters. So yeah – lacrosse runs in the family. But it runs in most families here. He was always offensive. "I always wanted to score." And he was always on team one. Not because it was easy – he'll tell you it took practice and time – but because he worked at it from the jump. The guys he watched growing up are the same guys that put this community on the map. Angus Goodleaf. Trevor Stacy, who struck terror into his own teammates as a captain. Trey Deere and Koleton Marquis. Brian Rice, who got drafted to Rochester. Justin McCumber, drafted to Georgia. Jay Smith, sitting across the table, coached some of those earlier guys on the Team Iroquois minor program. Coming to Kahnawake for this episode felt like a homecoming for him. How a buddy's phone call got him a Minto Cup ring Here's the thing about Kaymen's path – it didn't follow the playbook. He tried a year of college. Hated the classroom. Went into welding instead. No D1 showcases. No prep school. No highlight reel making the rounds on Twitter. He got to Coquitlam because Dhorus McCumber was already out there. The coaching staff asked McCumber if he knew any righties. McCumber said Kaymen's name. That was it. A phone call from a buddy four time zones away. Coquitlam took care of him from the minute he landed. House, rides, food. He went down with an injury before playoffs but stayed in the locker room through the run. Watching what it took to win the Minto Cup – the hardest trophy in junior lacrosse, five years to get it done – changed how he sees the game. He got the ring in four years. Now he's back home trying to get the one Kahnawake has never had. 29 goals. 28 assists. Almost perfectly balanced. Before the Hunters, Kaymen played Arena League for Paris Wolves at the ILA (Iroquois Lacrosse Arena) on Six Nations. He was supposed to go to Peterborough – the Timbermen wanted to draft him – but Jamie Dubrick swooped in and grabbed him for Paris. Surprise. Look at his stat line and you see the kind of player he is: 29 goals, 28 assists in the regular season. That's not a shooter. That's not a playmaker. That's a guy who reads the play and does whatever hurts you more. His dad drilled that into him from minor – don't take 20 shots a game, make everybody around you better, build chemistry. For the Hunters this summer, he's sitting at 22 goals and 20 assists halfway through. They've got 10 games in 15 days coming up. If this team clicks the way they think they can, Kahnawake might finally hang a Founders Cup banner in the sports complex. What actually matters at the next level When Deya Miller asked what separates the guys who make it from the guys who don't, Kaymen didn't say anything about speed or shot or size. He said attitude. And he meant it. There's a star quality thing – the younger generation gets that. They know you need something beyond just being able to play. But attitude is what keeps you on rosters. Get benched? Don't complain. Stay ready. When your next chance comes, be the guy who doesn't have to be asked twice. Dream destination? Las Vegas. The Desert Dogs. But honestly, anywhere that'll let him play professional lacrosse. That's the whole goal. Get paid to do the thing he loves for as long as his body lets him. Rez dog. That's what they called him. The conversation got heavy when racism came up. Kaymen has heard slurs on the floor this season. Playing in Ontario, guys calling him a rez dog. Jay Smith jumped in with his own stories – fights in the stands in Alora Ontario, fans going after Indigenous women and kids in the crowd, stuff getting thrown. The Alora Mohawks – the team Jay called out on earlier episodes for rocking a Mohawk name with a Plains tribe logo on their chest – officially dropped the name. They're the Alora Hawks now. Six Nations Council pulled the support. Jay didn't take credit, but the timing speaks for itself. What Kahnawake needs Simple answer: another arena. There's one sports complex and it gets ice in the winter. The only other option is an outdoor rink with no roof – and winters in Quebec aren't kind. A second indoor facility, open year-round, would give minor teams more floor time and let players keep their sticks going through the off-season. Kaymen also pointed at media. When the crew asked what else could help grow the game here, he looked at the cameras and the mics and basically said: this. What you guys are doing with The Creator's Game. Coming to different communities, telling stories, building an audience. Somebody here should do the same thing. The episode wrapped with everybody heading to that night's Hunters game against Chateauguay. Chris Vale called three goals for Kaymen before the opening face-off. Just lacrosse people doing lacrosse things, 600 kilometres east of Six Nations but built on the exact same fire.

Want to go deeper on Kaymen's scouting story and what it takes to get noticed from a small community? Read the companion article: How to Get Scouted for Lacrosse from a Small Community.