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Flyers win Fort Simpson tournament

Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Thursday, January 31, 2008

LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - A hometown team faced off against competitors from the big city and won in the finals of the Fort Simpson Men's Rec hockey tournament on Sunday afternoon.

The tournament, held in the village from Jan. 25 to 27, attracted the Tlicho Warriors and the Yellowknife Hackers in addition to the three local teams - the Nahanni Inn Flyers, the Sub Arctic Eagles and K&K Expediting.

On the ice for the final game the Flyers challenged the Hackers.

Heading into the finals the Flyers were undefeated in their round robin play winning their first game against the Sub Arctic Eagles 4-1 and their next game against K&K 5-1. Against the Hackers the Flyers went 3-0 and finished with a 3-2 win over the Tlicho Warriors.

The Flyers went on to play K&K again in the semi-finals.

The game started out with both teams looking evenly matched as the score stayed tied at 2-2 at the end of the second period.

Just minutes into the final period the Flyers scored a goal bringing the score to 3-2. A second goal with 12 minutes left and a third with just over two minutes left pushed the Flyers farther ahead to 5-2. K&K rallied scoring one more goal with just over a minute left in the game for a final score of 5-3.

To reach the finals the Hackers took out the Warriors with a score of 7-0.

In the finals the Flyers took an early lead by scoring one goal. Strong defense on both sides of the puck kept the score stationary and gave the Flyers a shutout victory.

"Our guys played great," said Owen Rowe, the Flyers' captain.

The Flyers benefited by having three lines that could be rotated on and off the ice. With the three lines the were able to maintain a fast-paced level of play and that factored into the wins, said Rowe.

Looking back on the games, Rowe said none of the players' performances stood out because everyone was solid.

"Everybody was on par," said Rowe.

Rowe praised the efforts of Chris Hewitt who worked together with Kele Antoine and Colin Allooloo to organize the tournament.

"I know I appreciate it," Rowe said.

Hosted by Fort Simpson Men's Recreational Hockey, the tournament is a way to bring organized hockey into the village, said Chris Hewitt.

"Overall it's nice to have other teams come into town to play against our teams," he said.

Some of the hockey players in the village don't travel for games so the tournament gives them a chance to play other teams, said Hewitt.

The tournament is also held for residents who are hockey fans. Lots of people come out and watch the games, he said.

During the tournament fans weren't disappointed.

"There were some competitive hockey games played," said Hewitt.

The competition started early with the first game of the tournament between the Yellowknife Hackers and the Tlicho Warriors going into a five player shootout. The Hackers won after scoring three times.

This was the first time in a few years that a team from Yellowknife has played at the tournament.

"It's nice to have a team from Yellowknife attend our tournament," said Hewitt.

As the second place team the Hackers left with $1,500 in prize money. For first place the Flyers received $2,000.

Other awards went to Rob Laviolette of the Hackers for being the top scorer with 13 points. Based on recommendations from players and the referees, Lance Lennie of the Hackers was named the best goalie while the award for player excellence and sportsmanship went to Calen Hardisty of the Sub-Arctic Eagles. Owen Rowe received an honourable mention.