Jordin Tootoo will help Canada win

This Canadian junior men’s hockey team is truly a Canadian team, geographically speaking. Our team has a player from Nunavut for the first time, and also the first Inuk to play for a Canadian junior team. Way to go, Jordin Tootoo. A character guy like Jordin Tootoo will help Canada win the world title for the first time since 1997. He has the talent of his Uncle Frank, from Baker Lake.

In 1989, I moved from St. John’s, Nlfd. to Chesterfield Inlet to teach. While there I decided to keep playing some hockey. At a tournament in Baker Lake, (I went with the Chesterfield Inlet hockey team with guys like Paul Autut, Luke Simik, and David Kadjuk), we played against a team from Baker Lake that had a player named Frank Tootoo.

This guy definitely could have played professional hockey. He was a smooth, effortless skater, great puck-handler, and had a wicked accurate shot. This Inuk had loads of natural talent.

In 1992, I moved from Chesterfield to Cape Dorset and again played some hockey there. It was there that I heard of the exploits of Terence and Jordin Tootoo from my students (Leo Manning, Saggi Pudlat, Taq Toonoo, and Matthew Jaw), who said to me, “Brian, you have to see these guys play they are unbelievable.”

Good luck Canada, and with a player like Jordin Tootoo, the drought is over.

Brian O’Grady
Barrie, Ontario