First Air Avataq Cup on hold
Blizzard unleashes force onto Rankin, halts play after second semi-final
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
RANKIN INLET
Mother Nature unleashed her biggest temper tantrum of the winter before a champion could be crowned at the First Air Avataq Cup senior men's hockey championship in Rankin Inlet this past Sunday.
Tournament commissioner Justin Merritt suspended the tournament following the second semifinal game between the Huka Inuks and Repulse Bay (Naujaat) at about 8 p.m. on March 15.
Winds reached 120 km/h overnight in Rankin and were still blowing between 70 to 90 km/h throughout the day on March 16 with zero visibility.
Repulse Bay defeated Huka 4-3 in its semifinal to set up a championship date with the Rankin Inlet Miners.
The Miners defeated Coral Harbour 5-2 to advance to the title game.
Coral and Huka will meet for the bronze medal.
Also competing in this year's Avataq were Chesterfield Inlet and the Rankin Sea Dogs, who were both eliminated in the quarter finals, along with Whale Cove, Baker Lake and Rankin Inlet's Team Todd and the Rubber Puckies.
Rankin's Wendel Kaludjak led the scoring race when play was suspended with 12 points on six goals and six assists, followed closely by Naujaat's Rodney Taparti (6-5-11), Coral's Kevin Angootealuk (5-5-10) and Naujaat's Aaron Kopak (0-10-10).
The arena crew battled snow falling onto the ice and into the stands throughout the day March 15, as the result of unusually warm temperatures that preceded the storm.
Merritt had little choice in making his decision, with a sold-out arena full of people needing to get home safely before the blizzard hit at its hardest.
He said it's always tough to make the call to shut it down with an event as wildly popular as the First Air Avataq Cup hockey tournament.
"I'm the commission of the event and I'm the one who made the call," said Merritt.
"Of course people were disappointed, but you have to put safety first.
"We hope to play the final two games as soon as the weather clears enough for people to be able to make it to the arena and home again safely.
"All the teams are still in town due to the weather and it's not like they're going anywhere, so we should be able to get the games in."
As of 2 p.m. on March 16, the weather had still not cleared enough for a decision on the games to be made in Rankin.
