INUVIK
The crowd was rocking when Bantam MVP Sam Skinner battled it out in his final game of the 2017 Gwich'in Cup minor hockey tournament.

Sam Skinner, front, defends the puck during play at the 2017 Gwich'in Cup. He went on to win a most valuable player award. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photo

"It was really exciting," said Skinner, whose team came second in his division. "(I had) lots of adrenaline because of (the crowd)." 

He said it felt good to get the most valuable player award, even if his team didn't come out on top in the end.

"The last game was really fun," he said.

"We lost but it was a close game. Just playing with my friends ... was fun."

The annual tournament would once pit communities against each other but now collects all eligible players and forms teams mixing them up. 

"It becomes not about one community versus another community but the Beaufort Delta playing hockey," said Carolyn Hunter, president of Inuvik Minor Hockey Association. "It's really about the love of hockey."

This year's tournament, which ran over four days, brought out a record 209 players from the Beaufort Delta.

Wind, snow and weddings didn't stop them from participating. 

Players from Tuktoyaktuk and Paulatuk braved blizzards along the coast to make it while Aklavik representatives managed to quickly bounce between the cup and participating in a wedding in their home community.

"It's that important to the kids," said Hunter.

It was a fabulous year for the Gwich'in Cup, she said.

"We had great games. In all our divisions we had at least three teams, and our teams had kids from Aklavik, Tuk, Fort McPherson, Paulatuk, Tsiigehtchic. It was a well-rounded Beaufort Delta tournament. We had lots of volunteers from the communities as well as Inuvik, so it was a real community event."

Fans packed the arena's stands to capacity leaving standing room only for the finals.

"We couldn't have asked for a better tournament," said Hunter.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.