RANKIN INLET/MONTREAL
When Troy Terry's shootout goal earned the United States a 5-4 win over Team Canada in the final of the world junior hockey championship on Jan. 5 in Montreal, some of the biggest tears in the Bell Centre were cried by a large group of hockey fans from Rankin Inlet.

Veronica Tattuinee-Connelly, left, and niece, Kerri Tattuinee of Rankin Inlet cheer for Canada against Team Sweden during the world junior hockey championship's semifinal in Montreal last week. - photo courtesy of Veronica Tattuinee-Connelly

But, not even such a heartbreaking loss could totally wipe away the joy felt by the hockey-mad fans from Rankin.

Troy Aksalnik decided to go at the last minute when he bought tickets from his sister-in-law, Kathleen Merritt, who didn't feel quite well enough to make the trip.

He made the trip by himself, but he wasn't long meeting a number of friends from Rankin.

"The semifinal against Sweden and the gold medal game against the United States were both awesome, but so was the quarter-final game between Canada and the Czech Republic," said Aksalnik.

Aksalnik said he'd love to see every junior player compete in the world juniors, even those in the NHL.

"If they're junior-aged, they should be allowed to play in the world junior," he said, but added the fear of injuries could keep some NHL players out of the competition. "Some NHL teams are on a roll, need the players and won't release them, so I understand why they don't get to play."

But while he said there was a lot of hype in the city when Canada, the United States, Russia and Sweden were playing, the Bell Centre was less than half-full for the weaker teams.

"I did watch my share of games that, really, weren't that good though," said Aksalnik. "A lot of people were worried Canada would lose to Sweden in the semifinal, but they didn't play any really strong teams in the round robin."

Robert Connelly disagrees. He said in his opinion, the whole event was awesome from start to finish. He and his wife, Veronica Tattuinee-Connelly, were at their first junior championship, which Connelly referred to as "quite the ride."

"Canada's semifinal win was our 14th game and except for the odd blowout by Sweden, every game in our pool was close," said Connelly. "We saw some very, very exciting games. Canada was in tough for every playoff game, so it was really an emotional roller-coaster ride."

Connelly said another thing he truly enjoyed about the event was the interaction between players and fans.

"That aspect of it really impressed me. Walking around downtown Montreal, we met players and coaches out shopping or enjoying the sights of the city. There were so many fans from out-of-town there and they were all proudly wearing their jerseys," he said. "It was great when you'd pass on the street and there would be that look, then a big high five, a 'see you at the next game' kind of thing. The atmosphere was just great the whole time."

Connelly was especially proud to see so many Nunavut flags in the crowd during the event.

"The last time I counted, we were 21 people from Rankin Inlet alone and there were at least 50 people there from Nunavut. It was great to see people there from Baker Lake, Cambridge Bay, Iqaluit and Kugluktuk," he said.

"This was our first world junior championship and we're totally stoked over the idea of doing it again one day."

One of those flags belonged to Craig Beardsall. He appeared going crazy in jubilation so many times on the scoreboard and TV cameras, he's become a Nunavut celebrity.

"Oh man, it was so much fun that awesome is all I can call it," said Beardsall.

He said the crowds at the Bell Centre were crazy during the big games, especially Team Canada's.

"I was totally happy, excited, nervous and sad, all tied-up into one," he said. "I just went nuts after every goal Canada scored."

Beardsall said the mood throughout the day of the Canada vs. United States final was incredible and everything except the final score of the last game was a lot of fun.

"The city was really pumped for the last few games. I wore my Canada hoody everywhere I went, and there were always people hollering 'Go Canada Go' at me," said Beardsall. "This was my second world junior championship and I really wanted to see Canada win the gold this time."

Despite Canada's loss, he's happy he was in Montreal.

"It was an awesome experience."

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