Rankin Inlet (May 03/04) - Filmmaker Ken Malenstyn hesitates when asked if he would go through the making of his documentary Team Spirit: The Jordin and Terence Tootoo Story again.

"If you could change the outcome, yeah," he said finally.

Malenstyn had no inkling of the dramatic course the story would take when he planned the documentary.

Malenstyn began the project in 2001 as a story about Team Indigenous hockey training camp, but was intrigued by one of the players.

That player was Rankin Inlet's Terence Tootoo.

Over time the project grew to include Terence's brother Jordin and became a chronicle of their quest to be the first Inuk players in the NHL.

"There was something special about the two of them," he said.

Malenstyn and Team Spirit's crew interviewed the brothers together in Rankin Inlet during the summer of 2002, and shot footage of the brothers fishing together and driving ATVs.

Terence Tootoo committed suicide in Manitoba that August.

"We asked ourselves did we want to carry on? Our first reaction was no," said Malenstyn.

But Malenstyn was angered by the assumptions being made in the Canadian media about the tragedy.

"Everyone was quick to make generalizations and assumptions about what happened," he said. "They just thought 'Oh, he's a native kid from the North.'"

After Jordin Tootoo's performance in the World Junior hockey championships, suddenly it seemed like every media outlet wanted a piece of the Tootoos.

"We sort of felt like we were in the middle," said Malenstyn. "Like we were on the other side looking back at the media. It felt wrong that some were trying to exploit it in this way. Some people just don't treat others with respect."

Malenstyn and the other producers consulted the brothers' parents, Bernie and Rose Tootoo, and Jordin, and with their permission continued documenting Jordin's journey to the NHL.

But the final documentary is the story of both brothers.

"Most (other reports) focus on Jordin," he said.

"This was an opportunity to share with everyone who Terence was. It's important to share that, and let people know him. And it brings into focus the achievements Jordin has made.

"Why did Terence commit suicide? Only one person knows that. We weren't going to try to answer that. We may show some of the factors. We just don't know."

Team Spirit airs on the CTV network May 9 at 7 p.m.

The Vancouver based filmmaker's next project is Chiefs and Champions, six half-hour documentaries on major aboriginal athletes of the past century who brought their victories home and made lasting contributions to their communities. Two of the profiles will be on Paul Longboat and Ted Nolan.

And Malenstyn is also working with Inuvik filmmaker Dennis Allen on a film about Allen's father and storyteller Victor Allen.