Arctic Bay was swept with hockey fever in the middle
of April; the Qamutik Cup tournament had come to town. The hockey tournament happens every year but
the communities involved take turns hosting the event. This year was Arctic Bay's turn. Five teams would compete for first place: two
teams from Arctic Bay, two teams from Igloolik, and one team from Pond
Inlet. The Igloolik and Pond Inlet teams
came to Arctic Bay by skidoo and qamutik.
Igloolik is about 425km to the south of Arctic Bay while Pond Inlet is
about 238km to the east. The visiting
hockey teams had to leave their home towns several days in advance so that they
would arrive on time. They didn't drive
non-stop; a few days were spent camping out on the land. That's the way to do it. Why drive all the way and not stop to enjoy
the expansive & endless landscape?
Everyone
was excited and talking about the hockey tournament. Many of my students asked me if I was going
to attend the games. I said I would try
as best as I could. It had been a long
time since I stepped inside the hockey arena.
The matches would be held in the afternoon.
The
tournament officially started on Monday, April 13, the day after I assisted
Stephen with recovering his ATV on the road to Nanisivik. The first part of the tournament was a round
robin of nine games spread across three days.
Three of the teams played four of the nine games while the other two
just played three. (I'm not a tournament
organizer so I'm not sure how the progressions are determined). I was unable to attend the first five games,
but I did find the time to attend Game 6 on the evening of April 14th.
The
winners of the first five games were as follows:
Game 1: Igloolik #1
·
Game 2: Igloolik #2
·
Game 3: Igloolik #1
·
Game 4: Pond Inlet
·
Game 5: Arctic Bay #1
Both
Igloolik teams would face off for Game 6.
I left my skidoo behind and walked down to the hockey arena from my
house. The arena was too close for me to
use my skidoo. The main lobby was packed
with people waiting for the next game to begin.
Game 5 had just finished and the ice was being resurfaced. A lot of my students were there and they
greeted me as I entered the building. I
was also greeted by many local Inuit.
Former Member of the (Nunavut) Legislative Assembly (MLA), Ron Elliot,
was selling pop, chips, candy, and other goodies at the canteen. There were also other people selling various
items.
I
paid the $2 admission and entered the arena.
I was glad I was wearing my Canada Goose parka because it was cold
inside. The arena doesn't have a Zamboni
machine to resurface the ice so this task done manually by volunteers. Many Inuit youth grab large brooms and sweep
all the chipped ice outside. Then a
small ice resurfacing machine on two wheels is brought out and pulled by one
person around the rink.
When
the stands were filled with spectators, both Igloolik teams skated out onto the
ice and took practice shots for five minutes.
Then the first puck was dropped by the referee. The referee happened to be one of my former
students from the previous semester. As
soon as the puck dropped, I began snapping pictures with my digital
camera. Everyone watching the game began
to cheer in Inuktitut.
"Hey,
Adrian!" one of my students shouted, "what team are you cheering
for?"
"Igloolik!"
I replied over the cheers.
"Yeah,
but which one?"
"Not
sure. I'm just keeping it neutral right
now!"
I
watched the first two periods before going home for the night. It was a school night and I needed my sleep. I had taken plenty of good pictures of the
game and filmed two segments. I also
ended up taking a lot of blurry pictures but those I didn't keep. There were some pretty intense moments during
the game but thankfully no fights.
Although, several players on both teams received penalties. I learned the next day that Igloolik Team #1
won.
On
the evening of April 15th, the local Northern Store presented a cheque for
$2,947.32 to 3045 Army Cadet Corps. The
brief presentation took place inside the Inuujaq School gym where the cadets
regularly parade every Wednesday night.
The money, drawn from the store's Environmental Fund, will go towards
assisting the cadets in their cleanup of the area behind the airport. The cheque was presented by Joy Crawford
& Diana Burges, the manager & assistant manager of the Northern
Store.
The
two semifinal games of the Qamutik Cup occurred on Thursday, April 16th, and
the residents of Arctic Bay were excited but also nervous. Only the Arctic Bay #2 team made it to the
semifinals. And they would be facing off
against Pond Inlet. I could sense the
tension in the air when I walked into the arena during the second period of the
game.
It
took some time to find a place to stand because the place was packed with
spectators. Everyone was shouting,
"De-fence!", "Atii!", "Let's go Arctic Bay, Let's
go!", and "Come on! Shoot!"
Every time the puck missed the net, the arena erupted into a loud,
collective groan. Arctic Bay was in the
lead but Pond Inlet was catching up.
There were a lot of intense moments but again, no fights broke out. By the end of the third period, Pond Inlet
& Arctic Bay were tied 10-10. The
game would go into overtime.
The
overtime was also intense but short-lived.
After about a minute of play, a Pond Inlet hockey player shot the puck
between the skates of the Arctic Bay goalie, scoring the winning goal. The Pond Inlet team charged onto the ice and
swarmed their lucky teammate. The Arctic
Bay team collapsed to the ice in disbelief.
The audience was stunned into silence.
I didn't say anything. I'll be hearing about this tomorrow at
school, I thought.
People
began to file out of the area as both teams shook hands. I was one of the last people to leave the
stands. The parking lot was completely
occupied by trucks, ATVs, and skidoos.
Many people were smoking & talking about the game. I walked up the hill and snapped a photo
before walking back home.
It turned out that barely
any of my students wanted to talk about the loss the next day. Most of them still looked dejected. Only a few people wanted to look
at my photos and videos of the games. "Well,
there's always next year," was all I could say.
The
final game between Igloolik Team #1 & Pond Inlet was held several days
later. Unfortunately, I was unable to
attend. I was told the game was fun to
watch and Igloolik Team #1 emerged victorious.
The award ceremony was held in the community hall. The visiting teams left the following
weekend.
And
finally, (and off-topic), I received my brand new sealskin kamiks from
Kigutikarjuk, Shappa, a respected elder of Arctic Bay. She was hired by Kataisee, the high school
Inuktitut & Inuit culture teacher, to teach & help students sew parkas,
mitts, and kamiks. This would enable
them to pass on this traditional knowledge to their future kids.
My brown
sealskin kamiik cost $500 to make. Five
hundred dollars sounds expensive but this is actually the cheapest price when
living in a northern community. The
usual going rate is $1000 per pair. The
sealskin fur is scraped off, thus making them waterproof. They are very good at keeping your feet warm
but getting a solid grip on the ground is tricky. I've been told to put hockey tape on the
soles for better grip. If you're not
wearing insoles, you feel everything you step on. I was also instructed to keep them in the
freezer so they don't dry up. Dried
kamiks lead to tears and tightness. I
thanked Shappa for her excellent work.
My kamiks complemented the sealskin tie I bought in Iqaluit.
It
didn't take long for everyone to notice my newly acquired footwear. I received many compliments from teachers
& staff on how good they looked. I
paid one of my students $25 to install two wooden planks over the metallic
footrests on my skidoo. That way, the
metallic "teeth" wouldn't dig in to my kamiks and rip them open.
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