Rankin Inlet (Apr 05/06) - Tommy Paliak remembers the first time a CCCP team played in a Rankin Inlet hockey tournament.

In fact, he was a young player just making his mark when Coral Harbour's Crazy Collection of Hockey Players (CCCP) made the journey to Rankin in 1986.

Paliak says as much as he'd love to come up with a great story to explain the CCCP jerseys, the reason they wore them was necessity.

"We had no sweaters and the CCCP jerseys were the only ones we could get sent up at the time," says Paliak.

"Since we had CCCP to work with, by the time we got to Rankin we'd come up with the crazy collection of hockey players routine.

"The jerseys still weren't there when we arrived, so we were all ready to play wearing T-shirts and no socks.

"The CCCP jerseys got there just in time."

The '86 event is still special to many Coral players because it was the first real tournament they attended.

The CCCP entry went all the way to the final before losing to Rankin 8-1.

"Everybody wanted to play and one of our three goalies couldn't even skate.

"We had to carry him to the net at the start of every period."

Bodychecking was allowed in '86, making the Rankin tourney a rough affair.

Paliak says the CCCP jerseys made the Coral players appear a lot scarier than they really were.

"That tournament was fun, but it was rough hockey.

"We almost had a brawl with Arviat in one game.

"We were lucky there were no injuries or out-of-control fights."

Justin Merritt moved to Rankin from Coral in 1986.

The tourney was held shortly after his move, so he decided to play with CCCP.

"I didn't know many people in Rankin, so when Coral asked me to play I said yes," says Merritt.

"I don't know why they say they got the CCCP jerseys, but it was probably just a case of Coral always trying to be different.

"One year they showed up with all their jersey numbers in fractions like 9 and one-quarter or 22 and one-half.

"They'd do anything to be different."

Merritt also remembers the '86 tournament as a rough one.

His lasting memory is getting cross-checked to the ice in front of the net.

"I got up to give the guy a two-hander with my stick and then saw it was Jon Lindell from Arviat, who was about six feet and pretty rugged, so I just skated away.

"They didn't call many penalties back then, so things would get really rough.

"The hockey was fun and the fans loved it, but it certainly didn't set a very good example for the kids."