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Atom power in Rankin
Repulse Bay downs Iqaluit to claim Arctic Atoms crown

Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, January 30, 2013

RANKIN INLET
The little hockey community above the Arctic Circle continued to roar this past weekend in Rankin Inlet.

Repulse (Naujaat) captured the 2013 Arctic Atoms championship by defeating Iqaluit 12-10 in a final game that could have went either way right down to the last minute.

Rankin overcame a four-goal deficit in the third period to defeat Arviat 7-6 and claim the bronze.

Teams from Baker Lake and Coral Harbour also competed at the event.

Baker was eliminated in the quarter-final by Repulse, while Coral fell in its quarter-final to Arviat.

Repulse came into this hockey season trying to build upon its success of 2012, which saw Naujaat capture its first Avataq First Air Cup senior men's championship and Polar Bear Plate juvenile-junior banner.

Naujaat atoms head coach Rodney Taparti said his young players totally enjoyed themselves at the Rankin event.

He said travelling to a Kivalliq tournament is a big deal to the Repulse kids.

"The kids had an awesome time all weekend long and they really, really look forward to coming every year," said Taparti. "We had more kids register in minor hockey this year in Repulse, which is great, and this is the result."

Taparti said there was a renewed hockey buzz created among the younger Repulse players when Naujaat won the two championships in 2012.

He said higher interest among the younger players could lead to Repulse being competitive at every level for years to come.

"I think seeing Repulse win the Avataq and Polar Bear Plate this past year really boosted the confidence of the kids.

"We had more players show up for practices this year, so you can tell seeing the older players win championships has them more pumped to play."

Taparti will also lead his Repulse team into Rankin this coming weekend to play their first games in the Northern Hockey Challenge.

Repulse, Rankin and Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, will play a total of six games this weekend.

"We're really looking forward to playing our first games.

"Everybody's pumped for that and we can't wait to begin.

"All the teams should be pretty closely matched.

"With the extra travel to fly to our community, we have to play our home games in Rankin, but we don't mind that at all."

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