Growing the game
Planning, co-ordination key to better programming, says president
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
KIVALLIQ
The game of hockey continues to grow at a steady pace in the territory, but there are still challenges to be met, said the president of Hockey Nunavut.
Bantam player Qaritaq Kusugak, left, and midget player Tyrese Dias helped Rankin Inlet deliver a one-two gold medal punch at the 2015 Toonik Tyme championship in Iqaluit earlier this month. - photo courtesy of Shawna Dias |
Darrin Nichol said the 2014-15 season was excellent across Nunavut.
He said he was particularly happy with the improvements he saw with the territory's officiating program, as well as the development of female hockey.
"We relied significantly less on out-of-town officials this year, which placed a lot more reliance on trained-and-certified-in-Nunavut officials," said Nichol.
"Our female program continues to grow in Nunavut, as evidenced by the territorial championship and the competitive level of hockey between Rankin and Iqaluit is being matched more closely in places like Arviat, Repulse Bay and Baker Lake.
"Having a territorial championship in Baker in an effort to try and grow the game by moving these events around was a positive experience."
Nichol said Baker did a very good job hosting the midget territorial.
He said he didn't receive a single complaint concerning the event.
"Baker doing such a good job hosting the territorial doesn't mean it automatically hosts it again next year.
"We had no doubt Baker could deliver a territorial championship and it did a wonderful job.
"Arviat and Coral Harbour have successfully hosted a territorial in the past and the more minor hockey associations able to deliver that level of an event - and the organizing that goes with it - the further ahead we are as hockey people."
Nichol readily concedes hosting territorial championships in many of the smaller communities is a huge logistical challenge.
He said the availability of flights to accommodate all the teams, plus the organizational capacity needed to host a major event makes for a lot of hard work.
"Player numbers in Hockey Nunavut are up for the third year in a row.
"What may be written or said about every jurisdiction in Canada having hockey numbers in decline is a general statement that's just not true.
"Many jurisdictions have numbers that continue to grow and, in Nunavut, it's part and parcel of a few things.
"We've tried to better structure the framework governing hockey in Nunavut at both the zone (Hockey Nunavut) and branch (Hockey North) levels, and our efforts have met with success."
Hockey Nunavut has been working diligently to ensure every player is registered.
The territorial organization has also stepped up its efforts with minor hockey associations to receive accurate team rosters for all events, and ensure every player on those rosters is registered with Hockey Nunavut.
Nichol said Hockey Nunavut has also become more diligent in issuing sanction permits to host committees running tournaments.
He said the permits not only confirm a tournament is a Hockey Nunavut/Hockey North-sanctioned event, but, also, that players are who they say they are, no one's suspended and everyone is of proper age.
"It's also a risk-mitigation issue for the host venue in the event something bad should happen.
"We've been far more diligent with our registration process and we're not just talking about players.
"We're also talking about coaches and officials being in the Hockey Canada registry.
"So, our numbers are growing mainly as a result of Hockey Nunavut working closer with its minor hockey associations to get everyone in the system properly identified and registered."
Nichol said issuing a sanction permit is serious business.
He said an issued permit is a statement of proper due diligence having been done by Hockey Nunavut.
"That permit says we, as a representative of Hockey Canada, have reviewed team rosters, official's certification and coach's information.
"In so doing, we have a clear conscious in issuing a sanction permit with the understanding the event is going to be played within the highest level of organizational protocols that go with any tournament played under a Hockey Canada sanction.
"We're going to keep pushing because too much continues to happen too close to deadlines.
"More planning and co-ordination between the key minor hockey associations and Hockey Nunavut will further allow us to better structure the way we deliver hockey programs, and that's going to continue to be one of our priorities going forward."
