ARVIAT
The Bench Warmers grabbed their third straight title at the Arviat Ball Hockey Championship this past month.

Members of the 2015 Arviat Ball Hockey champion Bench Warmers team are Kelly Malla, Tyler Tattuinee, Gary Kuksuk Jr., Peter Aulatjut, Ralph King, Shane Kuksuk, Tony Nibgoarsi and Jimmy Ishalook, back row from left, and Kevin Sewoee, Joe Curley, Manual Ukutak and Douglas Ollie, front row from left, this past month in Arviat. - photo courtesy of Pierre Ikakhik

The champs got past the Legends 10-3 in the final to defend their crown.

The Arviat event continues to grow each year, with five teams competing in this year's tourney.

Organizer Pierre Ikakhik said the annual event is a lot of work, but he plans to continue on it.

Ikakhik, who also organizes the annual Extreme Bravo racing championship in Arviat, said he'll keep both events alive as long as he's able to successfully fundraise each year.

"The first round-robin game that started the tournament on Aug. 28 went to a shootout, so that was a very exciting way to start the tournament," said Ikakhik.

"We had pretty good crowds throughout the tournament and that always makes it more exciting.

"It was good to have a fifth team enter this year, and we had two players from Rankin Inlet come to play in the event.

"I'm hoping next year we can start to attract some out-of-town teams to the Arviat Ball Hockey Championship, because that would make things even more exciting for all of our fans."

Ikakhik said Whale Cove had been expected to compete in this year's event but, unfortunately, their fundraising fell short.

He said it was very disappointing when he received news the Whale team couldn't make it.

"We had 10 games in the round robin, two semifinals, a bronze medal and championship game," he said.

"It was good to see lots of people come out to enjoy the games, especially the bronze medal and final on the last day. The game is a lot of fun, but it's really different from ice hockey.

"There's a lot of running involved and you have to be in pretty good shape to keep up with the play."

Ikakhik said the Arctic Storm were in tough in the bronze medal game against the Mighty Mites because they only had one spare player.

He said the Storm put up a good fight for awhile, but couldn't keep up the pace as the game wore on.

"These are exciting times to be involved with these events with our new sports park being built in Arviat.

"We're going to hold the tournament in the summer next year in hopes of getting some out-of-town teams here.

"In summer they can

come by boat, which is a lot cheaper than flying here.

"The games would be more competitive with other communities here and our crowds would, probably, get a lot bigger as well."

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