CORAL HARBOUR/RANKIN INLET
Coral Harbour captured its first Powerful Peewee championship with a convincing 9-5 win over the Iqaluit Blizzard in Rankin Inlet this past month.
David Pee of Coral Harbour accepts the Powerful Peewee championship trophy from tourney organizer David Clark, right, in Rankin Inlet this past month. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo |
The Rankin Rock defeated Team Kivalliq 6-5 in overtime to claim bronze at the event.
Teams from Baker Lake and Arviat also competed at the tournament, along with two additional squads from the host community.
It was a thrilling ride for the Coral Harbour squad, staging a huge third period comeback against the Rankin Rock in a semifinal that saw Coral overcome a 6-3 deficit to win 7-6 in overtime.
Head coach Ross Eetuk said this year's tournament was exceptionally well run.
He said his young players thoroughly enjoyed themselves at the event.
"In my opinion, the tournament was spectacular, the level of play was very good, the people of Rankin Inlet were awesome and the refereeing was awesome all weekend long," said Eetuk.
"To me, the tournament was a 100 per cent success.
"Our players were really, really pumped up and ready to go each game and that showed in the end.
"They were so happy, and it was priceless to see their faces when they won the tournament."
Eetuk said tournaments like the Powerful Peewee mean the world to his players.
He said it can be difficult at times with the lower number of players in smaller communities.
"All they do is practise and scrimmage against each other most of the year in our community, so a Rankin tournament is a really big deal to these kids.
"We go with what we have and do our best to teach them how to play properly.
"We kept them focused during the tournament and made sure they kept a positive attitude as we kept advancing.
"It's hard for me to put into words how awesome it felt to watch the kids win the semifinal in such a thrilling way over Rankin, and then beat Iqaluit in the final the way they did."
Things didn't go quite so well for the Rankin Rock at the Powerful Peewee tourney.
The Rock did rebound from their heartbreaking semifinal loss to win bronze, but not before blowing another third-period lead that saw Team Kivalliq tie the score at five with just 30 seconds remaining.
Head coach Nigel Kubluitok said the semifinal loss was a learning experience for his young players.
He said the players stopped skating when they went up 6-3 in the final frame and it cost them, big time.
"They let their foot off of the gas pedal and they really paid for it," said Kubluitok.
"They now realize you shouldn't hold back or slow down just because you're up by two or three goals because things can change on a dime.
"I told them they had to accept the outcome and not every game pans out the way you want it to.
"They were pretty upset, of course but it's a learning curve for them, and it showed these kids that the skill level is improving in the other communities, and you have to play hard until the final buzzer goes."
Kubluitok said he was happy to see it wasn't hard to pump his players back up for the bronze medal after losing such a tough semifinal.
He said it was also good to see the team play hard in its final game and show that winning a bronze medal did mean something to them.
"I had Barney Tootoo as a coach once and, from him, I learned how hard you have to skate and work to earn your spot on the team and then your ice time in the games.
"It's not the way, necessarily, you want them to learn a lesson but these players should know now that you never slow down if you really want to win a game."
Kubluitok said he's been coaching minor hockey for seven years now and he still loves it.
He said some days are harder than others, but the rewards far outweigh any negatives.
"My greatest reward is to be on the ice with the kids.
"I just have a blast and I'm always happy.
"It's going to be very hard for me to get out of it some day."
