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    NNSL Photo/Graphic

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    Rankin webmaster to build on impact of hockey site

    Darrell Greer
    Northern News Services
    Published Wednesday, July 9, 2008

    RANKIN INLET - Brian Tattuinee never anticipated the success of a website he designed this past season for the Rankin Inlet Senior Men's Hockey League.

    That was especially true during the weekend of the Avataq Cup, when the site received an astounding 158,558 unique visitors (hits).

    NNSL Photo/Graphic

    Brian Tattuinee of Rankin Inlet got more than 150,000 hits to his Rankin Inlet Senior Men's Hockey League website during the 2008 Avataq Cup tournament in Rankin. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

    Tattuinee approached the league's executive members and offered to create the website early in the season.

    He hadn't done a site for a number of years and knew the effort was going to take a lot of work.

    "I was registering domain names when the idea of the league site came to me and it was something I really wanted to do," said Tattuinee.

    "I was having fun with it, but in no way was I ready for how popular it became during the Avataq Cup.

    "At the time, I thought if people couldn't be here, or get tickets for a big game, they'd probably enjoy following the updates online rather than just waiting for something to happen.

    "I told a few people about the site just before the tournament began, it grew from word of mouth and the server stayed quite busy after that."

    Tattuinee tried to have live video feeds available during games, but there was simply too much traffic on the site for the server to handle.

    James Sandy put a webcam on the site that took a photo every time the page was refreshed.

    "James (Sandy) put it together for me at the last minute, but it just couldn't keep up with the demand.

    "I never expected so much interest from people outside of Rankin, but that shows how popular the Avataq has become in the region.

    "I received phone calls from people wanting me to do a similar thing for their tournaments, but I can't just travel around to watch hockey."

    Tattuinee's site is allowing him to continue contributing to his hometown hockey league after a bad snowmobile accident took him out of action for a while.

    Tattuinee suffered serious injuries to both arms when he crashed during a practice run for a snow-cross race in Rankin.

    He's coming to grips with the fact it will be another year or two of rehab before he knows if he'll ever be able to play sports of any kind again.

    "I want to stay involved, so I'll be spending more time at the rink this year for the senior men's season and hopefully more news content.

    "I'm approaching the minor hockey board to see if they're interested in becoming part of this because there's room to expand the site.

    "It could evolve into a Rankin hockey site that combines senior, minor, old-timer and female hockey.

    "I'm also working with the Rankin Inlet Co-ed Softball League to do a site for them, so I'm seeing what people want and figuring out if I can it for them."