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Alberta referee donates hockey gear
Official helps put more children on the ice in Rankin Inlet

Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, February 27, 2013

RANKIN INLET
A group of youth in Rankin Inlet are benefiting from an Alberta hockey ref's growing affinity for the North.

NNSL photo/graphic

Sandy Kaludjak got himself a great pair of skates from the quality used hockey equipment donated to Rankin Inlet by Alberta referee Lindsey Juniper in February of 2013. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

Lindsey Juniper of Grande Prairie, Alta., built up a rapport with the hockey officials from Rankin Inlet at the 2008 Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife.

A few years later, he accepted an invitation to come to Rankin to officiate at the annual Avataq Sakku First Aviation Cup and referred to it as some of the best hockey he'd ever skated.

Invited back annually ever since, Juniper was finally able to make job and family commitments work to be able to return this year and he did it in a big way.

Juniper officiated at the Polar Bear Plate in Rankin on the Feb. 9 weekend, and then stayed for a week before accompanying Hockey North officials Darrell Greer and Max MacDonald of Rankin and Craig Hockridge of Yellowknife to the Nunavut midget territorial in Arviat.

Before arriving in Rankin, he found time to put together six large boxes of quality used hockey equipment to give to young players in the Rankin Inlet Minor Hockey Association as well as skates for a local after-school program.

Juniper said he really enjoyed the hospitality he received during his first visit to Rankin and wanted to do something in return.

He said helping more children play hockey and be able to go skating seemed like the best way to do it.

"Rankin is a fairly small place, but it's a town that loves its hockey," said Juniper.

"Rankin's rec co-ordinator (David Clark) told me he doesn't get a whole lot of equipment donated to the kids, so that made the decision easy.

"When he said some gear would help a number of kids in Rankin, and maybe even other communities, that sealed the deal."

Juniper paid about $120 out of his own pocket to purchase the containers to ship the equipment, and also spent eight hours over two evenings sorting it out to make sure he was only bringing quality gear.

He said the Grande Prairie Minor Hockey Association (GPMHA) was more than willing to help the cause.

"The GPMHA had a room full of used equipment and its executive told me to help myself.

"I picked through piles of gear and selected what I thought was pretty good stuff, including 12 pairs of goalie skates with lots of life left in them and kids regular skates.

"A lot of the skates hardly look used.

"I didn't want to bring any junk with me."

Juniper said the vast majority of the equipment is for younger children at the atom or peewee age, with a bit suitable for bantam- and midget-aged players.

He said he was happy with how the GPMHA stepped up to help the Rankin kids.

"More could come if the need still exists and Rankin asks for another shipment.

"Sakku First Aviation was great to donate its services to ship the gear for free, so I owe it a big thank you for that.

"I brought about 35 pairs of regular skates which could also help after-school skating in Rankin.

"They have to turn kids away sometimes because they don't have enough skates to loan out, so this should help more kids get on the ice for that program, too."

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