DELINE/FORT FRANKLIN - The community of Deline is hoping its reputation as the birthplace of hockey will serve as the launching pad for future tourism to the town of 565 people.

The community of Deline is banking on its reputation as the birthplace of hockey in order to maximize future tourism opportunities in the town. Pictured here, from left, are community residents and avid hockey fans Pauline Roche, Donna Takazo and Malcom Benagho. - photo courtesy of Leonard Kenny

Danny Gaudet, Deline's chief land claim negotiator, and Leonard Kenny, the town's economic development officer, will welcome a number of ex-NHL players for a visit to the community on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.

The players will tour Deline and, in turn, create general awareness about the town whose full tourism potential – including the pristine waters of Great Bear Lake – remains untapped, according to Gaudet.

"We have the freshest water in the world," he said. "We have the world record for lake trout and grayling. The Sahtu has the world record for muskox antlers and we have a lot of muskox in our area. We own an airline. We own the hotel. We own lodges on Great Bear Lake. How can we make this thing work? The only thing we can do to make this work is to bring people in."

But then comes the question: "How are we going to attract them?" The answer is hockey, said Gaudet.

In 2007, the GNWT officially recognized Deline as the birthplace of Canada's national sport. Following that citation, Deline's community council drew up a list of new infrastructure it would like to see built in the town. That list includes a new twin-pad arena with two ice rinks, a gym and a swimming pool, an extended runway capable of landing Boeing 737 commercial jets and a golf course.

The town is also looking at designing and building turbines it could sink into the Bear River to reduce energy costs.

"There's no reason why, once we got all this infrastructure in place, we couldn't have NHL teams having their training camps in Deline," said Gaudet.

As Gaudet sees it, while the kids busy themselves learning how to perfect their slapshots, "the mother or the father who brings them (could) go out fishing for world-record lake trout," among other activities.

It's all very ambitious – not to mention costly – but Gaudet said the community needs to get the ball rolling in order to attract further investment from the territorial or federal government.

"While we're doing this, we're hoping that government officials come and commit (funding)," said Gaudet of the upcoming NHL visit.

The tourism sector holds the most promise for Deline.

"We thought the birthplace of hockey would be a good way to promote tourism in our area," said Kenny.

A profitable tourism industry would help improve the quality of life in the community, said Gaudet.

"We have serious issues in Northern communities where drugs and alcohol are taking over. People are dropping out of school. Education levels are really bad here because we can't even meet our own standards with the funding levels that we're being given.

"So there's lots of issues in the communities and it's getting worse; it's not getting better."

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