Hockey season melting away in Rankin Inlet
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Rankin Inlet (Nov 22/00) - The lack of artificial ice in Rankin Inlet means the hockey season is growing shorter every day.
Jim MacDonald, who is in charge of public relations for the Rankin Inlet Minor Hockey Association, says he frustrated because Community Government Minister Jack Anawak told him last summer that artificial ice was on its way to Rankin.
"I got an e-mail from Jack (Anawak) dated June 27, 2000, saying he was going to be announcing in a week's time that artificial ice was coming to Rankin Inlet as part of a pilot project," says MacDonald.
"There never was any announcement and he never bothered to explain what went wrong or why we weren't getting our ice."
Hockey North president Jim Ramsay says although there are numerous communities without artificial ice, it's frustrating in a hamlet the size of Rankin Inlet.
"It is pretty frustrating when the minister uses the artificial ice as part of his election platform and doesn't deliver," says Ramsay.
"The lack of artificial ice keeps us from developing the kids, not only in Rankin, but across the region.
"When Hockey Nunavut held an initiation program in Rankin recently with a top-level instructor, for example, it couldn't be conducted properly because we had no ice."
MacDonald says the fact that both Rankin MLAs used artificial ice as part of their election platform has upset voters.
"A lot of people feel like, why believe anything they say anymore? The lack of natural ice here is just destroying minor hockey and really hurting the youth of our area.
"When you only have two months to play, you can forget about tournaments and developing talent."
MacDonald says kids aged six to 10 can't develop their skills or learn the game when they're only getting on the ice for a couple of months out of a year.
He says if the Nunavut Government thinks the lack of ice is hurting adults more than youth, it's got another think coming.
"Socially, you hear about our kids being bad. Our kids aren't bad. They're good kids, but we're not giving them the opportunity to excel and show what they can do.
"Like anybody else, when kids have nothing constructive to do with their time, sooner or late they're going to get into trouble."
