Coral Harbour (Apr 21/04) - Coral Harbour captured the 2004 Kivalliq Cup old-timers tournament earlier this month in front of a large, enthusiastic home-town crowd.

The host squad defeated Repulse Bay 8-3 in the gold medal game, while Rankin Inlet pulled off some late game heroics to defeat Whale Cove 6-5 in overtime to capture the bronze medal.

Baker Lake had to settle for a fifth place finish in this year's event.

Tournament organizer and star Coral defenceman Tommy Paliak says the 2004 Kivalliq Cup was a tremendous success.

He says although there was some disappointment surrounding the fact Arviat and Chesterfield Inlet did not send teams to this year's event, the level of play by the five teams involved more than made up for the fact the entire region was not represented.

"There are some communities, it seems, that only show up the year before they're scheduled to host the event, which a community has to do or they're not allowed to host the next year's Cup," says Paliak.

"Communities have been skipped because they didn't participate, and that's too bad because it's a great tournament the fans really enjoy watching."

Paliak says the Kivalliq Cup was Coral's first big tournament in years.

He says the tourney created a definite buzz in the community, and it was good to see the community's passion for hockey on display.

"The arena was jam-packed for almost every game and really loud during the playoffs.

"It was nice to see the fans support every team and not just show up when Coral was playing."

Achievements recognized

Paliak says in addition to the usual Cup hardware, there were a number of special presentations made this year.

Guy Enuapik of Whale Cove received $250 for being the oldest player, and was also presented with a clock by Coral Mayor Johnny Ningeongan for being the Most Sportsmanlike player.

"We also presented a plaque to Rankin's Joe Kaludjak for his many years of dedication to the Kivalliq Cup.

"Joe couldn't make it this year, so Andy Aliyak accepted it on his behalf.

"Finally, the Coral players presented Louie Bruce with a token of appreciation for sponsoring our team with new team jerseys."