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Arviat Stars' year to shine Team nips Rankin 6-5 to claim Jon Lindell Memorial crownDarrell Greer Northern News Services Published Wednesday, February 6, 2013
The hometown Arviat Stars erased a 2-0 first-period deficit to drop Rankin Inlet 6-5 and claim the Jon Lindell Memorial (JLM) hockey championship. Arviat pulled off an even bigger rally in the semi-final, when they trailed the defending champion Karetakers 4-0 after two periods before storming back in the third to take the game 5-4. The Karetakers dumped Whale Cove to claim bronze at the event. The JLM was organized by the Arviat senior men's hockey committee led by Jonathan Pameolik, Kelly Owlijoot, Gleason Uppahuak, Francis Uppahuak and Tony Uluadluak. Uppahuak said the tension was thick in the dying minutes of the third with Rankin pressing hard to overcome a two-goal deficit. He said the Stars were panicking when Rankin scored with about a minute left to narrow the gap to one. "The crowd just died when Rankin scored that goal and the arena became very quiet," said Uppahuak. "They came right back at us and started pressing again, but, with 10 seconds left, I blocked a shot and got the puck out of zone. "The arena got pretty loud again during the last five seconds. "Before Rankin scored its fifth goal, they were all over us and we were trying to ice the puck or just get it out of our zone, but it was scary because no matter what we did, it just wouldn't go out." Uppahuak said he's proud of the support the JLM received from the community this year. He said the crowds were "unreal" all-weekend long. "We barely had enough room to get on and off the ice and to our dressing room it was that full. It was like that for almost the entire tournament, so it was a lot of fun. "It's true the Karetakers were missing some of their top players, KV Lindell, Pujjuut Kusugak, Amauyaq Lindell and Jackson Lindell, but that's how it goes sometimes. "This was our year and now it's our turn to say to them, 'There's always next year, right?'"
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