Kivalliq athletes join AWG fray
Region's athletes open Team Nunavut competition in curling and hockey
James McCarthy
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, March 19, 2014
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA
The 2014 edition of the Arctic Winter Games are off and running and the Kivalliq region is front and centre when it comes to several sports.
Two in particular feature several athletes from the region, most notably the girls hockey team, which is captained by Judy Mariq of Baker Lake. The girls saw their first taste of action on March 17 against their old rivals from the NWT but came up on the wrong end of a 4-1 decision.
Mariq said the pressure of captaining the team is alright for now but she knows it carries a lot of responsibility because it's not just any other team.
"I'm just trying to keep the girls composed," she said. "I know I have to tell them what to do but not in a mean way. It only takes one person to bring the whole team down."
The girls did look outmatched in their first outing but that can be excused because they haven't exactly had forever to practice together.
Mariq said there was a big positive to take from their first game.
"The third period was awesome," she said. "We won that period, 1-0, and that was great because they didn't score on us."
The reason for the clean sheet in the final frame was Joy Agnetsiak of Rankin Inlet, who shut the door with several great stops.
She said her defence was a big key in making sure she wasn't busier than she was.
"I have good defence in front of me," she said. "They had to do a lot of skating so maybe they got a bit tired but they were great."
The other Kivalliq athletes in action are the boys curling team from Rankin Inlet, consisting of Connor Faulkner, Kane Komaksiutiksak, Tyson Komaksiutiksak and Arthur Siksik. The boys pulled off a first for the territory as they became the first junior boys team to win a game outside Nunavut March 16 thanks to a 12-4 win over Alaska.
Coach Kevin Bussey said the score was lopsided on the board but it was a bit deceiving on the stats sheet.
"The boys only curled 56 per cent as a team and we were playing a team that was obviously struggling on the ice," he said. "Still, the boys should hold their heads high because it's a huge achievement to have won the first game outside Nunavut for a boys team."
As much as the first game provided so much joy, the second game brought the boys crashing back down to earth as they dropped a 9-4 decision to the NWT. Back-to-back steals of two in the third and fourth ends was what proved too much of a hill to climb for the boys.
Bussey said giving up multiple points in ends is lesson one in how not to play the sport.
"You want to score two when you have the hammer and force your opponent to score one when they have the hammer," he said. "Technically, if you do that, you'll win every single game you play. But as we all know, luck has a lot to do in this sport."
