Nunavut shares sportsmanship award at Arctic Winter Games
Games conclude with trophies, speeches and ‘Dancing Queen’
Athletes, coaches, mission staff, volunteers and the public gather before the closing ceremony of the 2026 Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse, Yukon on Saturday. (Photo by Dustin Patar, special to Nunatsiaq News)
With some athletes sporting their freshly won medals, Arctic Winter Games participants and their parents gathered in downtown Whitehorse to celebrate the end of the weeklong event Saturday.
“Well, we did it,” said Tracey Bilsky, president of the Whitehorse Arctic Winter Games host society, during the closing ceremony.
The event included singing O Canada and a speech by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon.
“As an Inuk raised in Canada’s Arctic, it means so much to me to see the participants from across the circumpolar world come together and show what we can achieve,” Simon said.
It was also a time to present the Hodgson Trophy Award, given to the team that “best embodied the spirit of sportsmanship, friendship and fair play,” said John Rodda, president of the Arctic Winter Games international committee.
The winner is determined in a vote by Games’ officials, and this year they had their first-ever tie — Team Nunavut and Alberta North ended up sharing the 2026 award.
“It was great,” said Nunavut hockey player Gabe Mossey, 15, about the Arctic Winter Games experience. “There was a lot of pressure on us to win, so I am relieved that we did.”
Mossey was part of the under-15 male hockey time that captured the gold medal in the finals against Yukon on Friday.
At the ceremony, he was wearing the golden ulu and a red-and-black team Yukon coat that he exchanged for his own yellow-and-blue one.
“We all became friends,” he said.
In the final medal count, Alaska finished on top with a total of 227 medals including 78 gold, according to the Arctic Winter Games website.
Yukon finished second with 174 medals, followed by Alberta North with 127, Northwest Territories with 98, and Greenland with 80.
In sixth place, Nunavut had 55 medals (10 gold, 19 silver and 26 bronze), followed by Sapmi with 24 and Nunavik with 12 medals (three gold, five silver and four bronze).
Saturday’s closing ceremony concluded with an outdoor party. Athletes and players were dancing to ABBA’s Dancing Queen and Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club.
The Arctic Winter Games opened March 8, bringing together approximately 2,000 athletes from Nunavut, Nunavik, Alaska, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, northern Alberta, Greenland and the Sápmi region of Scandinavia.
“the circumpolar world” our GG spoke of misses what about 40% of the polar. We need to recognize when we are taken as stooges of the MIC war machine oligarchs who reap untold riches in our name and on our backs. Russia has been doing nothing more than defending itself and Russian speaking peoples. Northern nations would do well to stand together and reject the West’s endless wars. An interesting fact is that BY FAR the so called democracies do more warring than any other government system in the world. Peace need begin at home, our not joining the parade of bandwagons for wars would be a great start. The fading of the US oligarchs power, their need to be the top dog is why there is such global discord. They fear China and Russia and any others who challenge that. Great winter games none the less, let’s welcome all circumpolar countries at the next games.
Wow! Trying to turn the Arctic Winter Games into a speech defending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is pretty strange. These games are supposed to be about youth, culture, and bringing northern communities together. Saying Russia is “just defending itself” ignores the simple fact that it was Russia that invaded Ukraine. Blaming everything on the West or the U.S. doesn’t change that reality. If anything, the spirit of the Arctic Winter Games should remind us how countries can compete and cooperate peacefully — without tanks and missiles.
Just too bad the way Alaska acted at the end of the 18 Hockey Gold medal game. They know we are all Norther’s, we support each other and always have. Didn’t need that.
Missed out; Sad person…..wow doom and gloom. Put a little bit of heart to it.