KIVALLIQ
The Kivalliq Canucks were given a free pass to a major junior C tournament when Team Baffin forfeited its chance to compete at the Challenge Cup this past weekend in Rankin Inlet.
Kivalliq Canucks head coach Donald Clark spent many a cold hour in the Rankin arena scouting players for his junior C team during the Polar Bear Plate earlier this month. - photo courtesy of Noel Kaludjak |
Kivalliq head coach Donald Clark said he was notified by Baffin head coach Denis Lambe that the team had to forfeit due to a combination of injuries and illness among his players, just a few days before the Challenge Cup was scheduled to begin.
Clark said the late cancellation was a headache to deal with after having most of the preparations for the best-of-three event in place.
He said although the forfeit means his Kivalliq team gets to represent the branch at the Maritime-Hockey North Junior C Championship in Hampton, New Brunswick, no team really wants to advance without earning it.
"I lucked out in one area in that I received the e-mail the same day I was going to have the tickets and programs printed, so at least I didn't go through all that for nothing," said Clark.
"But I still had to call all our out-of-town players to give them the news and rebook their flights for another time.
"I booked this weekend back in October, but, with ice time being so scarce in Rankin, it would have been nice to have been told two weeks earlier.
"That would have given us a chance to do something with another group, maybe the Northern Hockey Challenge, instead of the ice going unused at this busy time of year."
The Maritime-Hockey North Junior C Championship will be hosted by the hometown Hampton Hurricanes from April 3 to 7, and will include another team from New Brunswick along with squads from Nunavut, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.
Clark said the forfeit by the Baffin team casts a cloud of uncertainty over the Challenge Cup.
He said it may be time for the territory's governing body, Hockey Nunavut, to look at other options.
"This will be hard for our team because, unless I can arrange some exhibition games, we'll be going into a major tournament without any game competition, so it's frustrating.
"Hockey Nunavut has to look at the overall junior C program to see where it's headed.
"There's no problem in the Kivalliq, but there doesn't seem to be any great desire in the other regions to keep it going so we can offer players something after minor hockey, other than senior men's, and I don't understand why," Clark said.
"Maybe after more than 10 years, the Challenge Cup has run its course and it's time to use the Polar Bear Plate to select our Nunavut team for the Maritime tournament, but that's, really, up to Hockey Nunavut."
