Iqaluit Icemen freeze out Team Rankin

Coach Chris Côté of the Iqaluit team, right, took to the ice to help beat Rankin Inlet in the third and final game of the Northern Hockey Challenge Eastern Arctic Division finals. Teammates Natan Obed, left, and Brad Hickes, centre, earned assists on Iqaluit’s first two goals in a 6-3 victory at Iqaluit’s AWG arena on April 14. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)

Darren Ikakhik of Rankin Inlet closes in on goalie Randy Qamaniq on a penalty shot in the last minute of play against Iqaluit, April 14. Ikakhlik scored on the play, earning his third goal of the game, and second star-of-the-game honours for netting all Rankin Inlet’s goals in a 6-3 loss. Qamaniq earned first star-of-the-game for his outstanding play in a victory that takes the Iqaluit Icemen to the Northern Hockey Challenge Cup finals. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)

In a semifinal series cut short by unforgiving weather, it was Iqaluit that came through as champion of the Eastern Arctic Division of the Northern Hockey Challenge.

The Icemen won the three-game weekend series played out on home ice, edging Rankin Inlet in the third deciding game, 6-3, at Iqaluit’s Arctic Winter Games arena on April 14.

The win takes Iqaluit to the Northern Hockey Challenge Cup final, in which they play Yellowknife. The series is set to start April 26 in the Northwest Territories’ capital.

As convincing as the result seemed, neither of the Nunavut teams took anything for given. Only one thing was certain: an early start on the scoreboard seems to go a long way.

“It was a battle all the way,” said Iqaluit coach-player Chris Côté. Starting from the drop of the puck in the first game of the set, which Iqaluit won 3-1, “it could have gone either way,” he said.

“There were no ‘gimmes,’ no known outcomes — until the final buzzer.”

Rankin Inlet bounced back in game two on April 13, breaking out with an early 3-0 lead which Iqaluit could not breach. Final score there, 7-4 for the team from Kivalliq.

“We were pretty flat,” Côté said of their performance in that game. “Couldn’t get any production, we couldn’t get any flow going.”
Iqaluit returned in full force in game three, giving Rankin Inlet a dose of its own medicine by netting the first three goals. From there, it was Rankin Inlet’s game to recover — and the battle proved too great.

“Obviously it’s a big disappointment. We came into this wanting to win it all,” said David Clark of Rankin Inlet. The team’s second highest scorer, Clark averaged more than two points per game throughout the tournament, but was kept off the scoresheet this time – except for seven minutes earned in the penalty box. His last penalty, a major earned for charging Iqaluit goalie Randy Qamaniq, sparked a melee midway through the third period. Rankin Inlet was down 6-1, and their frustration showed.

“Iqaluit had a pretty good game, but at the end of the day we were not good enough,” Clark said after the game.

Originally scheduled to start with two games in Rankin Inlet and the remaining three in Iqaluit, the series’ first set in Rankin Inlet was cancelled due to bad weather. This resulted in a shortened three-game series at Iqaluit’s AWG arena — and no home ice advantage to the team from the Kivalliq region.

“Our backs were against the wall,” said Clark. “But at the same time, we have a philosophy in our dressing room — no excuses.
“We came over with confidence and wanting to win it — for the guys who couldn’t make it, and the guys in the dressing room, and our community — but we just weren’t good enough tonight.”

All the same, Clark said many players on his squad look forward to being back in Iqaluit for the Toonik Senior Men’s Hockey Tournament in a few days, starting April 18.

“Hopefully we have a better result,” he said.

Rankin Inlet played short of five regular players in Iqaluit – not uncommon among players with work and family schedules to contend with.

The Icemen of Iqaluit were no exception. “We’re not kids — everyone’s got commitments,” said Iqaluit defenseman Natan Obed.

“We’re always missing someone, but we just play through it. We have a roster that’s big enough, so that we can bring guys in,” he said. And that included coach Côté, who helped fill in for missing players.

“It’s best to have your full complement of players out there,” Côté commented. “It just makes a big difference in a big game like this.”

The coach lauded the team for growing fast. Thrown together from the Iqaluit Senior Men’s League, the team stumbled out of the gate with a 15-5 loss to Kuujjuaq at the start of the Hockey Challenge. They would go on to win a succession of games, improving as the tournament progressed.

Next stop, Yellowknife — for the Northern Hockey Challenge Cup.

“We’ve never played each other. I don’t think we’ve been there to a tournament in quite a few years,” said Côté. “I think it will be a good experience, not only for the fans but for the players.

“The two capitals will battle for northern hockey supremacy, I guess.”

The Cup finals are set to begin on April 26, at Ed Jeske Arena in Yellowknife. The first three games if the best-of-five series take place in the NWT capital, and the final two, if necessary, in the Nunavut capital.

The Iqaluit Icemen clinched the Eastern Arctic Division in the Northern Hockey Challenge on April 14, beating Rankin Inlet two games to one in a weekend series at Iqaluit’s AWG Arena. The Icemen will play Yellowknife for the Hockey Challenge Cup, starting April 26. (COURTESY OF BRIAN TATTUINEE)