Dez Loreen
Northern News Services
Thursday, December 20, 2007

INUVIK - Inuvik fans might have played a part in their teams' wins at the First Nations Cup in Yellowknife last weekend.

Stands were packed with a vocal bunch that seemed to propel Inuvik Northwind to their 6-3 A division championship win against Yellowknife's Diavik Chiefs.

"Unbelievable" is what Northwind captain Corey Wainmain called their win.

"(It was) chemistry," he said. "We just wanted it so bad.

A second Inuvik team took the masters division, the Inuvik Black defeated Yellowknife's Kingland Ford Rebels 9-3.

It didn't take long for the action to get started when the teams hit the ice in the A division final.

Northwind knocked in the first goal against the Chiefs within the first two minutes of the first period.

Diavik managed one goal during that period, but it finished 2-1 in Inuvik's favour.

Diavik came back in the second period to keep the puck in Inuvik's zone, and tied the game 2-2 in the first half of the second stanza.

Diavik also managed to kill a powerplay and potted another goal to up the score 3-2.

But Inuvik was able pull the same stunt, tying the game 3-3 while on Diavik's powerplay by the end of the second period.

When the game's next goal came from Inuvik with 6:38 left in the third, there was no going back.

They made it seem too easy to tally another two with 2:27 and 1:26 minutes left on the clock to win the game 6-3.

"It was very fast-paced," said Wainman, who added the team was tired from a weekend full of games.

"We dug deep and emptied the tank."

Josh Campbell was awarded most valuable player on the team, and Tim Gordon took the same distinction for the Inuvik Black.