Sault Ste. Marie cop takes in stranded Nunavut teen robbed during hockey tryouts

Eighteen-year-old Tyler Akeeagok thought his dreams of playing junior hockey were shattered after he was robbed and left penniless during the tryouts for the Sault Ste. Marie Thunderbirds, but the kindness of a local cop and fire department turned things around.

"I was sleeping and two guys came to my room," Akeeagok said. "They broke the door and told me to get under the blankets." 

Akeeagok, who has been playing hockey since he was a young boy, had worked the entire summer to pay for a trip from Iqaluit to the Junior A tryouts.

The men stole the young hockey player's cellphone, passport, laptop and all of his money. They also cut his motel room's phone cord and threatened to harm his family if he spoke to the police.

"I was just really scared, I felt so vulnerable, I was just thinking about my family," says Akeeagok.

The young hockey player spent the night alone and afraid in the motel room until the sun rose, then he made his way to a nearby gas station and called his family.

His family encouraged him to report the robbery to the police.

'I just really wanted to help him'

The officer who responded to the call was Const. Beau Neveau, who just happened to be from the Batchewana First Nation and who once played hockey for the Thunderbirds, the team Akeeagok was trying out for.

"I just really wanted to help him," says Neveau, "I felt I had the same kind of background and the same interest and love for hockey."

Neveau invited Akeeagok to live with him and his family for the remainder of the tryouts. 

"I was so happy, it was probably like winning a lottery ticket," said Akeeagok.

Having Neveau's support made all the difference.

"I was alone, a kid from the North — didn't really know what was going on — no family, no one to talk to, didn't know anyone — this guy comes along and he helps me out a lot."

When some of the firefighters in town involved with the hockey league heard Akeeagok's story they also decided to lend a hand.

"We didn't want to leave Tyler with a sour impression of our town," says Jeff Toms, chair of the charity committee for the Sault Ste Marie firefighters.

The firefighters raised $500 to help Akeeagok make it through the rest of the tryouts.

'It shows how strong our community is and how tight-knit the hockey community is," says Neveau.

In the end Akeeagok didn't end up making the Thunderbirds, but the coach got him a tryout for the Elliot Lake Wildcats.

And after just one practice session, Akeeagok made the team as a forward.