Kirsten Larsen
Northern News Services

NNSL (Dec 30/98) - Forget cashing in on those Boxing Day specials -- how about a game of frozen football in Yellowknife's below-zero temperatures?

Sound crazy? Well, a group of graduates from Sir John Franklin high school have been meeting at the same time, and same place every Boxing Day since 1994 to carry on a crazy tradition of football in the snow, no matter what the temperature is.

"It's a way to get together when people are here visiting their families," said Stephane Pitre, who remains a resident of Yellowknife. "People went away to university and left, but they come back every year to play."

Five former Yellowknife residents who now live in the warmer climates of British Columbia, Alberta and sunny California, joined their Yellowknife classmates on the snow-drifted field of William McDonald Park, to team up for an informal, but serious game of frozen football, Dec. 26.

With temperatures plummeting into the -37 C range with the wind-chill, the 18 players were almost sweating in their three and four layers of clothing.

"This is the first year it has been bearable out there," said Pitre. "No one got frostbite. I was too hot today. I was sweating and my clothes started to freeze."

The game was one of their longest yet, due to the "warmer" weather.

"We lasted three hours out there this time," said Jeremy MacKenzie, a Yellowknife resident and veteran of the Boxing Day Classic. "It was like two hours before the whining started."

Everyone on the team remembers the temperature of the first Boxing Day Classic game in '94, right down to the wind-chill which made for a frosty -57 C.

"It was so cold in '94 we had to come back and do it again," said Toby Mehler who now lives in Los Angeles, Ca., and has only missed one game since '94.

"That was the best game," said MacKenzie with a reminiscent smile on his face. "We busted four balls. I burst one on a kick off."

But before he could finish his story, the rest of the players started shouting out their favourite heroic plays.

"Stephane threw a long ball and it stuck to the fence," said a veteran player.

MacKenzie continued, "...and the other two balls just died. They were just beat so bad, they just died."

Everyone laughed and let the magic of the game just linger.