Baker Lake (Mar 31/04) - Only time will tell if there's a silver lining to be found in the decision to cut hockey's peewee bracket from future Arctic Winter Games (AWG).

But Sport Nunavut's Kyle Seeley says there could be one if sport organizations co-operate in the search for viable alternatives.

Seeley says it's important for people to accept the fact peewee hockey is gone from the AWG.

He says the last thing Sport Nunavut wants to see is a drop in the number of peewee players being registered because the AWG opportunity isn't there any more.

"What we have to do is look at this decision as an awesome opportunity for us to develop a semi-annual peewee tournament of the same profile," says Seeley.

"That might be a series of regional tournaments leading up to a territorial Polar Bear Plate-style of tourney for the peewees.

"We've had about three years notice on this and it's a great opportunity for us to sit around the table and decide what's best for that age group, because that's what's best for all the age groups.

"If you're not feeding the peewees, the rest are going to starve."

The peewees have always enjoyed competing at the AWGs.

Seeley says the event was the first major hockey tournament for most of the kids involved, and the first big multi-sport games they ever attended, so it was a great experience for them.

He says the majority of work in filling the competitive gap the exclusion from the AWG leaves for the peewees falls at the feet of Sport Nunavut, along with hockey's territorial sports organization and Hockey Nunavut.

"We're all going to have to work hard to find opportunities for the kids to get out there and be involved in larger tournaments involving other communities. As always, our success in doing that depends on a co-operative effort between everyone involved."

Seeley says it's of prime importance for the development of regional tournaments to continue.

He says it's vital for the Kivalliq to have successful community-based initiatives such as the Powerful Peewees and Polar Bear Plate events.

"These events get the kids out there and playing.

"We have to start looking at how to get the most out of one major event or to spread it out to regional events.

"The number of kids playing peewee and female hockey in Nunavut is growing, and we have to do whatever it takes to foster that growth."