Young Nunavut brothers hoping to attend European hockey camp

The Uuttuvak brothers, Kalai and Attiqtalaaq, or Q as he’s called, on a recent fishing trip near Pond Inlet June 9. (PHOTO BY PATRICIA DEMAIO)

Hockey sensation Q’s little brother Kalai exhibits the same natural hockey ability, and love of the game. (PHOTO COURTESY ANITA UUTTUVAK)

A young hockey prodigy from Nunavut is ready to return to Europe this summer for his third “elite series” hockey tour.

But this time, he won’t be going alone.

Attiqtalaaq “Q” Uuttuvak, 10, has impressed spectators and coaches alike since Nunatsiaq News first reported on the child star in 2014.

Even when Q was only eight years old, some coaches predicted his hockey potential could one day take him to the pros.

And now, the next Uuttuvak waits in the wings to follow in his brother’s footsteps.

Kalai Uuttuvak, nine, tore up his team’s points’ records for the season this past winter, earning a show-stopping 120 points, 100 of them goals, according to Q and Kalai’s mother, Anita Uuttuvak.

The next player in line earned 71 points, with 44 goals.

“He actually beat Q’s record at that age,” Anita says.

But if you think there’s any sibling rivalry going on, Anita is quick to say there’s more to the family than the sum of its parts.

“Same cooks, different recipe!” she laughs.

If anything, this year has brought the two boys even closer together.

“Q is really good with his hands,” she said, adding that Kalai plays more of a power forward role on his team.

Both Uuttuvak boys have been invited to play in Europe this summer at the “Warrior Elite Series Europe Hockey Tour,” a pan-European hockey camp held this year in Finland and Sweden.

Anita, a single mother who moved to Ottawa with Q and Kalai from Pond Inlet to attend university, is raising money to finance the boy’s trip.

It’s become a regular routine for Anita this time each year, with Q attending the two previous European tours.

But with Kalai’s invitation, this year’s funding drive has proved even more challenging.

“The funding hasn’t had the same turnout as before,” she acknowledges.

But nonetheless, Anita said the family has had “some incredible help” and they’re getting close to the Aeroplan miles necessary to book the plane tickets.

“We need about 66,000 points now for Aeroplan. We’ve come a good way,” she said.

The family has also raised about $1,600 towards the trip, but is only 16 per cent towards their objective.

Q and Kalai have been doing their part as well, putting their money in the family piggybank whenever possible.

The brother’s ambition to cross the Atlantic this summer culminates a year of challenges and triumphs for the two young players.

Q, who’s playing in a different hockey division this year in Ottawa’s east end, didn’t make his AA team.

And Kalai is adjusting to his own new east-end division, all while training for the A squad.

Anita says the day Q found out he didn’t make his AA team, the distraught brothers made a pact to double their efforts training for next season.

“You can either walk away form hockey now or you can show them what you’ve got,” Anita told the brothers on the car ride home from tryouts.

“Don’t ever put your value in someone else’s hands. You hold it. Don’t tell them what your worth is.”

Every morning since that car ride, the Uuttuvak household, or more specifically Anita, awakes to the familiar sounds of pucks bouncing off the downstairs walls.

“They play in the morning before school, taking shots,” she said.

“For him [Q], its not work, he just really enjoys playing.”

Nunatsiaq News spoke with Q while he was hunting with his brother and grandparents in Pond Inlet, June 29.

Q believes both his previous trips to Europe have helped prepare him for hockey back home.

“The first time I learned to keep my head up. The second time they told me how to work hard,” he said.

For his part, Q has passed some of that knowledge down to Kalai.

“Don’t play with the puck, just skate with it,” Q said he told his brother.

But beyond the technique and the drills, Q finds value in sharing the ice with like-minded kids.

“It’s awesome meeting friends at the arena, getting to know them and to just hang around,” he said.

And Q is already proving an expert in hockey media-relations and diplomacy, saying he can’t pick a favorite spot in Europe he’s visited.

“They’re all really nice,” he said, but acknowledged that Italy — where he played in his first overseas trip — has “awesome spaghetti.”

Q will be trying out again for Ottawa’s Gloucester Rangers later this year, while Kalai attends tryouts for his A division team.

If you’d like to make a donation to the Uuttuvak family’s hockey fundraiser, you can visit their crowd-funding page here.

Or, you can make a direct donation of Aeroplan points to the family here.