Jennifer Geens
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Sep 08/03) - Rose Tootoo is sorry now she let her subscription to Maclean's magazine lapse.

"Now I'm going to have to try and find a copy," she said.

Her son, Jordin Tootoo, the first Inuk to be drafted by an NHL team, appears in the latest issue as one of the magazine's top 50 Canadians under the age of 30.

"We call him the Wayne Gretzky of the North," said Rose Tootoo.

"They have one in the South, now we have one in the North."

Maclean's credits Jordin Tootoo's performance in the final game of the World Junior Hockey Championships last December for making him a household name in Canada.

"That last game was difficult to watch," said his mother.

For the final game, Jordin's family was in a private box at the arena in Halifax, and she could choose between watching the game as it happened below her, or watching it on a television monitor. Tootoo's mom couldn't bear to watch the action live on the ice.

"I had to watch it on the TV," she said.

Canada's world junior team won the silver medal.

Jordin and his older brother Terence were both hot NHL prospects. But in August of last year, Terence committed suicide at age 22. Their mom remembers that when the two boys went to hockey school in Winnipeg, everyone told them their sons had great potential.

"The coach said he (Jordin) was gifted, even at 10," said Rose.

Jordin first played for peewee teams in Fort Providence and Rankin Inlet, then jumped to the OCN Blizzard in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. Tootoo was drafted by the Brandon Wheat Kings and played in the Western Hockey League from 1999 to 2003. In May he signed an NHL contract with the Nashville Predators.

"It's unreal that it's his mom. "He's living his dream."

Over the summer Jordin was featured in both USA Today and Sports Illustrated. But all the attention has its down j1

side as well.

"It's never-ending," said Rose of the press coverage.

"Jordin was home for three weeks this summer and we had reporters here all three weeks."

Jordin has been in Tennessee since August, training with the Nashville Predators.