Game on for Toronto-bound players
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
RANKIN INLET
A wave of excitement swept through the ranks of the Rankin Inlet Minor Hockey Association (RIMHA) this past week with the announcement the Rankin Rock atoms and peewee teams will be taking on the Mimico Canadiens of Toronto, Ont., in the first leg of an Experiences Canada hockey exchange program between the two areas this coming October.
Players on the 2017 Arctic Atoms champion Rankin Rock A team are, back row from left, Justin Towtongie (stick boy), Terence Pilakapsi (water boy), Katie Bell (head coach), Ben Kusugak, William Hartman, Gregory Wiseman, Seth Hamilton, Wayne Kusugak (assistant coach) and Owen Conelly-Clark (stick boy), and, middle row from left, Kane Towtongie, Nuqallaq Okpatauyak, Kayden Eetuk, Darren Jr. Ikakhik, Liam Tattuinee, Blake Kusugak, Inuk Brown (Kowmuk) and Ben Tulugak, and goalie Preston Kaludjak front. - NNSL file photo |
A total of 60 kids will take part in the exchange, which will see Mimico take to the ice in Rankin Inlet during April of 2018.
A committee will be formed in both locales to look after the substantial logistics of the program.
Head coach Katie Bell had an impressive rookie season behind the bench of the Rankin Rock atoms A team this past season, helping guide the team to tourney championships in Rankin and Thompson, Man.
Bell said a grant of more than $100,000 was received to help cover the costs of the exchange program, which leaves the two Rankin teams needing about $2,000 from every player making the trip.
She said Rankin received its grant to cover 15 players on one team, but RIMHA has decided to send two teams and fundraise to cover the additional costs.
"It's a huge community-based project with peewee coach David Clark on board with his team, while I'm going to take care of the atoms," said Bell.
"We'll probably take about five or six chaperones with us to Toronto.
"Parents are not included in any of the funding, but they can be a chaperon and we're going to give them the option of paying their own way if they want to go, but the trip is going to be about seven to 10 days which, I would imagine, is a long time for a number of parents to be away.
"Some Rankin kids might never get the chance to do something like this again, especially in Toronto where we plan to go to an NHL game, meet some players and, hopefully, get to go into the dressing room."
Bell hails from Collingwood, Ont., so she plans to take the Rankin entourage to her hometown to see the Christmas tree farm, her dad's veterinarian clinic and other local sites.
The Rock players will also get to visit sites such as the CN Tower while in Toronto, as well as take part in a number of specially-planned activities.
Bell said the Rankin players will billet with hockey parents while in Toronto, which should add a touch of family atmosphere to life in the big city.
She said on the night of the NHL game and meeting some players in the dressing room, they will probably have to take the kids into the room in groups, with 60 players along for the visit.
"We have to work things out here for the return visit, because it might be tough to billet 30 kids in Rankin for that length of time.
"Hopefully, we can work something out with the hotels if we start now.
"We're going to try and fundraise between $60,000 to $100,000 between now and when we leave for Toronto in October.
"We're in talks to have a tournament while we're down there with some North Bay teams and some surrounding Toronto teams, and it would be pretty cool if we could have a small tournament for their visit here, something like a smaller version of the Arctic Atoms or Powerful Peewees with teams from the closer communities around us in Rankin."
