Coming up: a weekend of hockey fun

Who needs Hockey Night in Canada?

Iqaluit residents will get a chance to enjoy an entire weekend of fun and hockey when the Ottawa Senators Alumni hockey team skates into town next Friday.

Led by Brad Marsh, the Senators Alumni will face off against a 20-member team picked from the ranks of the Iqaluit Old-Timers, at 6:30 p.m., Nov. 12, in the Arnaitok Arena.

Marsh, a rugged, stay-at-home defenceman known for his leadership qualities, spent 17 years in the National Hockey League, playing for the Atlanta/Calgary Flames, the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

He spent his final season, 1992-93, with the Ottawa Senators. Marsh now owns two sports bars in the Ottawa area, “Marshy’s Bar-B-Q and Grill,” and participates in numerous charitable events with the Senators Alumni.

Various pieces of NHL memorabilia will be sold at a silent auction to be held at the same time as the Friday night game, including items donated by Molson and the Ottawa 67’s junior hockey team.

Mike Courtney of the Iqaluit Amateur Hockey Association said that over the following two days — Saturday and Sunday — members of the Senators Alumni will drop into scheduled minor hockey activities to have fun with Iqaluit’s young hockey players.

Because of the indefinite closing of Iqaluit’s ailing Arctic Winter Games arena, the only available venue is the old Arnaitok arena — and organizers didn’t want to interfere with the tightly scheduled minor hockey activities being held there on the weekend.

“The local hockey board didn’t want to interrupt other kids’ programs. So what we agreed to do is Brad and the team will participate in the regular minor hockey programs. When we started this we thought, what can we do to make the weekend fun, and how can we use it to raise awareness of hockey programs in Iqaluit?” Courtney said.

Silent auctions will be put on during all minor hockey activities that weekend.

“Wherever there is minor hockey on the ice there will be a group of these guys on the rink, and while we are at the rink we will also have a silent auction,” Courtney said.

More than 130 kids, from the age of four up to their late teens, participate in hockey programs run by the IAHA. Between 26 and 28 girls aged 13 and up are involved in a women’s program. And in recent years, they’ve developed between 25 and 27 qualified coaches, Courtney said.

And Courtney said that in January, the IAHA will launch a “Start-Right, Stay-Right” program for kids at risk.

Outside the mandate of the IAHA, Iqaluit also boasts a senior men’s hockey program that provides recreational hockey for more than 105 adults, as well as an Old Timer’s hockey program.

On Saturday night, the IAHA will put on an invitation-only dinner for coaches, volunteers and corporate sponsors. They’ll conduct a live auction at the event, to raise money by selling team jerseys signed by NHL stars, and other items.

Courtney said the proceeds from all fund-raising activities will go to support minor hockey programs in Iqaluit, and other ice sports for youth, such as figure skating and speed skating.

Other activities that weekend will likely include floor hockey, and a road hockey tournament.