Nunavut hockey teams win big at southern tournaments

Young Baffin Island hockey players have been racking up wins at southern hockey tournaments this season, with Iqaluit youth taking home gold medals in two provinces.

"It's a big thing for hockey in the North," said Mike Courtney, the team manager of the Baffin Blizzard bantam team, which won the Maritime Hockey North Junior Championship in Charlottetown, P.E.I., over the weekend.

"It just bodes well for what Hockey Nunavut and Hockey North has done over the past 10 to 15 years." 

Annual hockey clinics that teach youth about the sport in various Nunavut communities go a long way toward raising interest in hockey, Courtney said, but added that the high cost of the sport remains a barrier.

"First Air and Canadian North – they're great when you travel down south with your hockey gear," Courtney said. "But once you start connecting to national airlines, it's pretty tough to travel to a game of 20 players and all their hockey gear." 

It took $50,000 to get the the Nunavut team to the Maritime competition, which Hockey North was able to raise with the help of corporate sponsorship and funding from various organizations.

"It's endless … the amount of support we get from the community for doing this," Courtney said.

'It was pretty intense'

Seventeen players from Nunavut, ranging in age from 17 to 21, made the trip to Charlottetown for the tournament, where they defeated the Southside Lynx, the local P.E.I. team, 6-5 to claim the trophy.

The Blizzard scored early, leading 6-1 at the beginning of the game, but the Lynx never gave up, Courtney said.

"It was pretty intense —  especially the last five minutes," Courtney said. "I myself couldn't watch. I was pacing back and forth in the stands." 

Blizzard defenceman Nathan Gardner was named most valuable player of the championship game for his three-goal, one-assist performance and selected along with teammate forward Lodie Ipeelie to the tournament's all-star lineup.

In Kingston, Ont., another bantam team from Nunavut, the Iqaluit Blizzard, won the Kids for Kids annual hockey tournament.

And earlier this month, the novice B and novice C teams from the Iqaluit Blizzard both took home gold from the South End/Ottawa East hockey tournament.