CLASSIFIEDSADVERTISINGSPECIAL ISSUESONLINE SPORTSOBITUARIESNORTHERN JOBSTENDERS

NNSL Photo/Graphic


Canadian North

Home page text size buttonsbigger textsmall textText size Email this articleE-mail this page

Inuvik team wins B title
Battles in the IRC Cup hockey tourney sees Northwind fall to Tuk in A final

Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, February 20, 2014

INUVIK
The finals of the 26th edition of the IRC Cup hockey tournament saw one Inuvik team celebrating while another suffered disappointment.

nnsl photo

Celebrating the victory by the PCM Pro Mechanical team are Shannon Baetz, left, Matthew Skinner and Ryan Ballas after their team won the B Pool of the IRC Cup Feb. 16 after a hard-fought game against the Aklavik Outlaws. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

The PCM Pro Mechanical team, led by MVP goalie Chris Church, clinched the title in the B Pool with a tightly-contested 5-3 win in the final game over the Aklavik Outlaws team.

The Northwind Industries team bowed out of the tournament with an 8-1 loss to the EGT Nanooks coached by Jackie Jacobson in the A finals. That game was called midway through the third period due to the lopsided score.

The team fielded a strong contingent of players from East Three Secondary School, both students and staff.

Afterwards, Shannon Baetz, Matthew Skinner and Ryan Ballas took some time to savour their win.

"It was awesome," said Ballas. "You have to come in expecting to win, and be a little cocky."

Late in the B Pool final, the teams were tied when it looked like the Outlaws were making a rally. But PCM Pro Mechanical shut them back down with two late goals.

"It was a bit scary," Ballas said. "But they didn't scare me."

Skinner said the team had finished in third place last year.

"We definitely improved on that," he said with a pleased grin. "It was a tight game, and we just wanted to make it interesting for the crowd."

"We're a young team, but we played as a team and played hard," Skinner continued.

Skinner said he doubted the team had much interest in moving up to the A pool, where the Tuk team has tended to dominate.

He said he wasn't surprised to see the results in the A pool.

"It's the same thing every year, Gruben's blows out a team in the final," he said.

It was the 10th title for the Gruben's team, and its second consecutive win at the tournament in a blowout final.

Jacobson praised his players for their work in going undefeated in five games through the tournament, especially after seven players on his regular roster were recruited by other teams just days before the Cup tournament was due to start.

His roster didn't sit well with some Inuvik enthusiasts, who said the Gruben's team had imported some star players from the south, but that's a common refrain at the tournament.

Don Hendrick, who organized the tournament, said there are no rules against recruiting players from outside the territory and no limits on spending by the team.

Mickey Ipana, the captain of the Northwind team, was a little subdued afterwards.

"We came out flat-footed," he said. "Some days you win some, some days you lose. We had a really hard-fought game this morning, and they came out fresh for this one.

"You've got to give it up for the organizers and everyone else who worked for months and months in advance to get this ready," Ipana added.

E-mailWe welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.