More hockey fans filled the stands on Sunday than for a seat-gripping final game this past Saturday. 

Having won game 16 against the Hay River Shockers, the Hay River Ptarmigan Huskies moved on to game 18 against Fort Providence. 

J.J. Hirst scored first against Fort Providence and Steve Rosendahl scored second tying the teams up.

But late in the third period Fort Providence came back and scored the game winning goal and earning a final score of 3-2.

Fans flooded out of arena doors disappointed.

“It was a good close game,” said Rosendahl, Huskies team member and president of the Hay River Recreational Hockey League.

“In the end we couldn’t get the balance we needed at the time. It just wasn’t our day I guess.”

The Hay River Shockers beat the local Oldtimers team on Friday with a final of 8-1, as did the Huskies over the Hay River Bandits, 8-1.

The Shockers won against High Level 6-2 and advanced to the finals but lost to the Hay River Huskies 4-2 in game 15.

The Huskies won against Fort Smith 6-4 in game 11 on Saturday and against Fort Simpson 6-2 in game 13 on Sunday.

But when they went up against the Fort Providence Bulls in their second and final game, they lost out 3-2.

“They had a good team, some great players,” said Huskies team member and organizer Todd Ashton.

“There was some good competition and some great hockey was played.”

Four Hay River hockey teams along with teams from Fort Providence, Fort Simpson, Fort Smith and High Level came out to the annual tournament hosted by the Hay River Recreational Hockey League.

The tournament kicks off the season for many communities around the North.

It was a virtual revolving door last weekend of hockey bags, hockey players, and an outstanding and dedicated group of coaches reticent to toot their own horns. The Hay River Minor Hockey Association hosted 132 players from across the territory at the 2011 Ice Breaker Hockey Development camp from Oct. 7-10.  

The camp is run by former NHLers and major junior coaches and scouts who want to see players from small communities succeed. On Sunday evening Luke Daignault of Hay River skated up to one camp organizer Louise Schumann to comment on the off-ice training session and the high energy instructor teaching dry land exercises to keep players in good game shape. 

“She’s on steroids or something,” said Daignault, jokingly. “It was all sorts of awesome.”

But it was this enthusiasm, said Schumann, that carried participants through the weekend though they were pushed to the max in on ice and off-ice training.

“I see participants coming away noticeably improved,” said Schumann. “They get four on-ice sessions which is more than they’re used to.”

This is the first time for the three out-of-town coaches in Hay River, and they will hopefully be back, said Schumann.Former Red Wings forward Dennis Polonich and Doug Russell have been running hockey camps for the past 10 years together.

“We do it for the right reasons,” said Polonich. “I talk to them about respect, about focus, about mental toughness. Are they going to play in the NHL? I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. They’ll be better players and better people.”

For former NHL player turned Coach Pat Elynuik, it’s all about setting and reaching measurable targets and goals. “If they can meet those targets and goals consistently then they’re going to continue to enjoy the game and progress as players,” he said. “But the people of Hay River certainly should be proud of the habit and culture of their players.”

Head of the coaching team Doug Russell said that players in small northern communities face specific challenges, but ones that can be overcome.

“Geographically, it’s really hard,” said Russell. “A lot of it comes down to game sense, and when you don’t have that opportunity to play a certain level, that can be a challenge.”

“If you turned back the clock 10 years ago I’d say most talent came from small towns,” said Russell, “but now hockey has become so elite that you have to head to the city centres to get to the good hockey.”

For this very reason Russell said the coaches tailor the exercises to meet the needs of the players, taking segments of the game, breaking them down into drills, and putting the pressure  on, but with a positive spin.

“We’re trying to bring the game to the players,” said Russell. “In one word, our time in Hay River has been awesome. The kids want to be here. They’re parents aren’t pushing them to be here.”

Still at 8:30 p.m. on the eve of Thanksgiving, players are circling the ice surface, challenging themselves and each other. Russell hasn’t been out of his skates in seven hours. Along with Polonich, he’s a small hockey player, so are both of his NHL player sons, Chris and Ryan Russell.

“That’s a battle they fight every day,” he said. “But I say hockey is 90 per cent mental. The other 10 per cent, that’s mental, too. If you have passion and intensity, you can’t measure that trying and desire with a tape measure.”

Hockey players in Hay River and around the territory will soon have the chance to break some ice, better. 

The Hay River Minor Hockey Association will be hosting the 2011 Ice Breaker Hockey Development Camp from Oct. 7-10 here in town. 

Tournament Coordinator Louise Schumann says the Association usually only holds the tournament every second year, but with the approach of the Arctic Winter Games in early 2012 they decided to hold a preparatory camp.

“We thought it would benefit those trying out,” she said.

“It’s an unbelievable opportunity and we’re really hoping people will take advantage of it.”

The program will bring in certified coaches from Hockey Development Systems and will include on-ice and dry land training as well as classroom sessions.

Former NHLers Pat Elynuik and Dennis Polonich are a few names, along with coaches and scouts with decades of experience under their belts.

Last year’s camp was only open to the South Slave, but this year’s will be open to all minor hockey players in the territory.

The Association has received funding from sponsors and the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.

This has allowed them to keep registration costs low and make the program more inclusive.

“What we’re trying to stress is that we’re bringing this camp to the North for kids who may not have the opportunity to attend hockey school in the South,” said Schumann.

The cost for registration is $50 per player, plus $25 for initiation.

Deadline to enroll is Friday, Sept. 30.

Those looking for information or registration forms can contact Tiffany Demarcke at demarcke@northwestel.com or to register online go to www.hayriverminorhockey.ca.

It may not be first, but it’s close.

In game two against the National Aboriginal Hockey Championship the Huskies boasted a 6-0 win, with Fisher boasting another success with a shut-out.
Game three was a 5-3 loss to the Talbots Leafs, a hard fought game wrought with penalty troubles, resulting in the hard loss.  The Talbots scored four out of five goals on the power play.
Curtis Rowe earned an MVP for the game along with J.J. Hirst.
Finishing second in their first pool, the Huskies were set for a semi-final against the PSAV United Club.
The Huskies took an early 3-0 lead, but the team’s penalties were again their downfall.
The United Club team took a 6-5 lead late in the game, but with two minutes remaining, Jason Coakwell fired a slap-shot past the goalie, tying the game up.
An unproductive overtime, in which Fisher blocked three shots from the opposition, eventually lead to a shootout.
Rowe scored the winning goal that advanced the Huskies to the finals, and a chance to redeem their honour in a re-match with the Talbots Leafs.
Redeem themselves they did, sort of.
The Huskies played their hearts out, out-shot the Leafs during game one, but still only managed to tie both first and second games, 1-1 and 2-2, respectively.
Heading into third with two tied games, the Huskies enthusiasm and dominating plays were again, overshadowed by their penalties.
A last minute goal, pushed the Leafs into the lead late in the game.
But the Huskies brought it back, exploding into action with four goals in one minute and three seconds.
Hirst performed an outstanding breakaway goal to put the game out of reach to the Leafs.
Two Huskies team members, walked away with awards. Stephane Milette earned tournament MVP while Fisher walked away with goalie of the tournament honour.
The Huskies walked away as the 2011 champions of the Labbats “B” division, while the Fort Simpson Nahanni Inn Flyers earned the First Air “A” division championship title.

“It was a fantastic year, really good volunteers and great group of kids,” he said.
Curtis Rowe, Peewee and midget coach, said, despite the the coaching change halfway through the season, the team had a successful season.
“They really pulled together, and had a great second half of the season,” he said.
The Keith Broadhead Award, new this year, was given to players who really demonstrated the spirit of the game of hockey.  The winners were Ben Squirell in the midget division, PAtrick Smith in the Bantam division, Nicholas Stainbrook in Peewee division and Abby Webster in the Atom division.
Another winner was Sean Gilbert, midget defenceman who took home the Matthew Taylor Memorial Award.
“I was really surprised,” he said.

Along with 38 teams and a Don Cherry impersonator, great sunny weather made the third annual Polar Pond Hockey tournament another great success.

The eight rinks were maintained with a donated bobcat and two zambonis, rescued from the junkyard and tuned up by Kingland Ford.
The town showed its great support with many local businesses sponsoring the event.
“The sponsorship is rewarding, and the whole town pitched in to help,” said Rowe.
The tournament winners, Northwest Company Voyageurs, will be headed to New Brunswick next year, as they won a buy into the World Pond Hockey Championship.
“We hope to have fun there, I’ve never been to New Brunswick, and I’m excited to represent the territories there,” John Hill said.
“The event has gotten bigger every year, and we got a lot of people from out of town,” organizer Curtis Rowe said.
Greg Rowe said the event isn’t all about hockey.
“It’s about coming out and having fun.”
And with all the hockey, food and beer you could ask for, there is no question why this event has become so popular.
The event also played host to people traveling from Yellowknife, Fort Simpson, Fort Resolution, Winnipeg and Calgary.
Adrienne Dufour, a former Hay River resident, drove 15 hours from Calgary to play.
“I love this weekend, it’s my favourite weekend,” she said.
To kick off the weekend and support the players was Clack Robinson, aka Don Cherry, complete with flamboyant trademark suit, and brash voice, making Hay River’s outdoor hockey event extra Canadian.
Right in the middle of the hockey action, was a curling rink as well, a new addition to the event, with a sign that read “If curling were easy, they would have called it hockey.”
The weekend has become large in the last three years, and has the popularity to become bigger.

Despite some game changing plays by the Hay River Huskies during this weekend’s novice tournament, they were unable to come out on top after a 6-1 loss in the final to High Level.
The Huskies were able to turn around their game against Yellowknife late on Saturday, recovering from a 4-1 deficit.
The goals just kept coming for the Huskies, who found their momentum.

They pushed their way through the final minutes of the first half, scoring three  quick goals to tie up the game.
The young hockey players demonstrated good skating and stick handling throughout the second half, although fatigue was starting to set in.
A goal early in the second half by Tyson Maher put the local team ahead, which was followed by another quick goal by Pranay Annavarapu.
Conner McKay was the next Huskie to sneak by Yellowknife’s goaltender bringing the score up to a solid 7-4 for Hay River.
Declan Munro scored nearing the end of the game, solidifying what was sure to be a 8-4 defeat over High Level.
But Kaden Beck snuck past the goalie with only 20 seconds left in the game, further demonstrating the domination Hay River had over High Level.
But the Huskies were unable to turn their last game around, after making it to the finals.
High Level continued to dominate throughout the game, beating out the hometown favourite 6-1 in the end.

Four of Hay River’s minor  hockey players have made the cut to represent the Northwest Territories during next month’s Canada Winter Games.
Carter Hill, Joel Demarcke, Gavin Broadhead and Connor Goudreau all excelled during the last few months at a training camp in Yellowknife, making it to the top 20 players selected.
Hill, Demarcke and Danny Chambers all made the trip up to Yellowknife from Hay River, hoping to make the final cut.

They worked hard refining their skills from their arrival to Yellowknife in September, and both Hill and Demarcke will not be returning home until after the games take place in February.
Carter’s mother, Tracy, is very excited for the boys, who she says are getting to live a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“We are very, very excited,” she said of Carter making the team.
“It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these boys, for them to be able to take part in this.”
She said that her family has their tickets booked for the CWG, as they will be making the trip out to Halifax to cheer on not only Carter, but all of the boys representing the Northwest Territories.
“These boys have worked very hard for the last four and a half months,” she said, “And we are very proud of all of them. We cannot wait to be able to watch and cheer on Team NWT at the Canada Winter Games in Halifax next month.”
Joel’s mother Tiffany is equally as proud of the boys and all they have accomplished in the last few months.
“I am proud of him, excited for him,” she said of Joel. “It is a good accomplishment.”
Joel’s family will also be making the trip out to Halifax, and will be staying there for the duration of the games to cheer on the boys.
“We will be leaving for the whole week,” she said. “We will even be there for the opening ceremony.”
She said that Joel has made it home on the occasional weekend and was able to make it home for Christmas, but she still anxious for him to come home.
“I cannot wait until they get back,” she said.
But the boys have a long road ahead of them before they can return home.
The men’s hockey games will kick off on Saturday, Feb. 12, and carry on throughout the week.
“They just need to keep trying hard and play their best,” said Tiffany.
Attempts to reach the Chambers were unsuccessful as of press time.

A total of nine young female hockey players from the South Slave Region were on the ice over the weekend for the first high-performance hockey camp of its kind.
Sponsored by Hockey North and Hockey NWT, the camp was designed to introduce new players to the game, improve the skill of existing athletes, and create a high performance program to an “elite” hockey team for the Northwest Territories, coach Amy Doerksen said.

This weekend’s camp, which began on Friday night at the Ben Sivertz Arena and concluded on Sunday afternoon with dry-land evaluations at Princess Alexandra School, was the first in a series of camps designed to establish what kind of talent is available in the communities, as well as what players need to get to the next level, Doerksen continued. Doerksen, who is from Yellowknife, and fellow coach Jessica Cox, from Fort Smith, will be traveling to Fort Simpson just before Christmas, followed by visits to Yellowknife, Normal Wells and Inuvik by the end of February.
“So when it comes to the Arctic Winter Games, the Canada Winter Games, or even just every year, just picking a tournament somewhere to take the girls to play at a higher level, knowing what kind of athletes are out there,” she said.
Doerksen said a select number of the girls will then be invited to a week-long camp in Yellowknife at the end of March. At the end of that camp the coaches hope to create a team of 15 skaters and two goalies, who would then travel to AA midget or bantam tournaments in Alberta.
“That’ll be kinda the end goal that we will be working towards,” she said.
On Friday night participants spent time working on a number of skills, including skating, stick handling, passing, shooting and physicality.
“We spent some time on the basics, and then, as we moved through our practices became a little bit more complicated and we started incorporating those different elements,” Doerksen said.
On Saturday morning, the players worked on positional play, including one-on-ones, two-on-ones, two-on-twos and play in both the offensive and defensive zones.
Doerksen, Cox and Hay River Learn to Play coach Kim Ivanko then ran an Esso Fun Day came to work on skills with a number of younger players midday on Saturday. Players ran through a number of skill stations on passing, stick handling, and shooting before finishing off the day with a scrimmage and trivia challenge.
The high performance camp continued with a session on making healthy choices on Saturday night, followed by an exhibition hockey game. It wrapped up Sunday with on-ice evaluations followed by fitness testing and interviews Sunday afternoon.
Sisters Caitlyn and Susie Chambers were both impressed with the camp.
“It was fun and challenging,” Caitlyn, a grade eight student at Diamond Jenness Secondary School, said.
Caitlyn, 13, has taken part in hockey camps before, though they were always mixed.
“I liked being with all girls … it makes us feel more equal,” she said proudly.
Younger sister Susie agreed.
“It was really fun,” Susie, a grade seven student at Princess Alexandra School, said.
With the camp, Doerksen said the hope was that the coaches could eventually skip beyond the basic play, and concentrate more time on the positional and strategic side of the game.
We’re not there yet, but I think we can get there,” she said. “We just have to stick with a longer-term plan.
While the idea for a high performance camp for female hockey players has been thrown around before, this was the first year organizers were able to get something off the ground, Doerksen said. The hope is to sustain them for years to come.
“We realized there was a need out there and a need to develop the players that are currently playing, but then also attract new players to the sport,” she said. “In some regions, the numbers aren’t great, which is the purpose of (Esso Fun Days). In combining both of them, we thought it was kind of a nice fit.”

The Hay River Hazard Women’s hockey league strapped on their skates for a weekend of training to help new and experienced players prepare for their season.
The two-day camp included on and off ice training including power skating, positioning, stick handling, and the rules of the game.
There were around 15 women who enrolled for the camp, a smaller number than last years.

“It was really good,” said Ingrid Wood, one of the participants in this year’s camp.
“We are learning about powerskating, how to use our skates properly and positioning and where to go.”
For some of the more experiences players, the camp serves as a reminder for the technical aspects of the game.
“You play so much in the game that sometimes you forget about the little things, so this is a good reminder,” said Wood who is entering her fourth season of hockey.
Annabelle Brault is one of the few first time hockey players who have signed up this season, and she said that the camp has been a great way to start improving her skills.
“You play and play and play and it is very intense so you improve a lot,” said Brault of the camp.
After Saturday’s workshops and drills, a fun game was held at 5 p.m. for the players.
A second fun game was held at noon on Sunday to help the women apply what they had learned at this year’s camp.
“There are not a lot of new players this year, but it helps because you are surrounded by players who are more experienced,” said Brault.
“It helps you to learn. I am having fun.”