FAIRBANKS, ALASKA
It's been a big week so far for Inuvik athletes at the Arctic Winter Games.

Alexander Robertson comes around the bend during junior boys speedskating action at the Arctic Winter Games in Fairbanks, Alaska, on March 17. - James McCarthy/NNSL photo

From speedskating to hockey to curling, Inuvik athletes are sure making themselves known in a big way. Perhaps the biggest shot in the arm for the community came courtesy of speedskater Jackson Christie, who won a silver ulu in the juvenile boys 777-metre event March 17.

The worst-kept secret going into the Games is the girls curling team, which is being represented by Carina McKay-Saturnino, Karly King Simpson, Rayna Vittrekwa and Hilary Charlie. As of press time, the girls were sitting in second place after the round-robin with a record of three wins and one loss. The lone defeat came at the hands of Alberta North in the opening draw March 16.

McKay-Saturnino said the difference between the Alberta North game and the others was the ice.

"We had a bit of a hard time reading the ice," she said.

One thing which every player has talked about is the ice, which has been described as "keen," curling terminology for plenty of curl.

McKay-Saturnino said it's not as keen as the ice back at the Inuvik Curling Club, but it did take some time to adjust to the curl.

Girls hockey has some Inuvik flavour attached to it and one of those players, Davina McLeod, put on a show in the girls' first game against Nunavut March 16 in a 4-1 win for the girls.

McLeod spent plenty of time on the top line with Yellowknife's Victoria Rankin and had a couple of assists in the game.

She said coach Jessica Cox is trying to make sure the stronger players are together as often as possible on the top line.

"This is the second year (Victoria) and I have played together," she said. "I didn't think I would be nervous until I actually stepped out on the ice and then it all hit me."

One thing you'll notice around Fairbanks are scarves pumping up the Beaufort Delta region as a bid city for the 2018 Arctic Winter Games and Mayor Floyd Roland is making sure anyone who wants to listen knows that the region in ready.

"We're going to put the 'Arctic' back in the AWG," he said.

The games have never been held in the Beaufort Delta region. The South Slave region, which the Beaufort Delta is up against, hosted the Games in 1978 in a joint bid.

Roland said he and the crew who travelled to Alaska are seeing the venues, meeting the right people and taking in the information about what it's going to take to run the games, should they be successful.

"We want to make sure we have a class-A bid and make sure anyone who came up to see it would have the memory of a lifetime," he said. "Our goal right now is to check out what's happening and see who makes it happen and how do we make sure that we pull the people together to make it happen."