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LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
Soccer players from eight communities came together over the weekend to compete in the Connie Loutit Memorial Soccer Tournament in Fort Simpson.

Thunderstruck team members, who won banners in the U19 and open men's divisions included, back row, from left, coach Shane Thompson, Chris Stipdonk, Gus Mandeville, Steven Thompson, Adrien Tremblay, Tyrone Stipdonk and Dez McDonald; front row, from left, Rylan Hardisty-Gillis, Thomas Roche and Tyler Pilling. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

The tournament is all about giving athletes in the communities an opportunity to play soccer, said Shane Thompson, one of the event's organizers.

Twenty-six teams competed in the tournament. The communities of Fort Resolution, Fort Liard, Fort Providence and Fort Simpson each sent three teams or more while players from Fort Smith, Hay River, Jean Marie River and Behchoko were incorporated into teams.

The tournament was smaller than usual because a number of schools were on their spring breaks and a handgames tournament was happening at the same time in Behchoko, said Thompson. The tournament normally averages approximately 40 teams.

"It's been some really good soccer," Thompson said.

Hometown teams from Fort Simpson won the banners in seven of the nine divisions including U12 girls and boys, U14 boys, U16 girls, U19 boys and open men and ladies. The finals in the U19 boys and open men divisions were two of the highlight games to watch.

In the U19 division, Thunderstruck, comprised of seven Fort Simpson players and one player each from Fort Smith and Fort Resolution, had a 4-0 record going into the finals against Fort Resolution.

"They are playing soccer at a really nice level right now," said Thompson, the team's coach.

Thompson said the team's performance was due to a lot of practice time. In the finals, Thunderstruck won 6-3 to take the banner.

The team, with the addition of one player, also competed against Fort Resolution in the open men's finals. In that division, Thunderstruck which held a 4-0 record would face Fort Resolution. The Fort Resolution team entered the final with one loss, a 5-4 loss to Thunderstruck.

In the finals, Thunderstruck pulled ahead 3-1 in the first half but Fort Resolution got in a second goal in the final half. One more goal from Thunderstruck ended the game 4-2 to the delight of the hometown crowd.

One of the highlights of the tournament is the flexibility that is given to teams and players, said Thompson. Every one wants the youths to play and some athletes are allowed to join more than one team to make that happen.

Ross Duntra, 15, was an example of that flexibility.. Duntra, from Fort Liard, played with three teams during the tournament including the U16 TSS, U19 Fort Mixed and Behchoko open men. This was Duntra's third year competing in the tournament.

Duntra played as a forward for the teams. He said he enjoys the scoring, passing and teamwork aspects of the game.

"It's my favourite sport," he said.

Sometimes the flexibility at the tournament led to unexpected results.

In the U16 boys division, the three teams played each other twice in the round robin. The Fort Providence team had to forfeit one of its games against Thomas Simpson School (TSS) because of a lack of players so TSS loaned them some players for the cross-overs, said Kristen Morrison, the TSS coach.

The Fort Providence team went on to beat TSS 4-3, using some of TSS' players, and continued to the finals where it lost to Fort Resolution 2-1.

"The nice thing about this tournament is that the kids are here to play soccer," said Morrison.

"They don't mind playing on different teams."

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