Editor's note: The NWT Rebels are the no. 1 seed in the quest to find the Greatest Of All Time in terms of teams from the NWT. Here's a look back at how they won the women's gold medal at the 2014 World Broomball Championships in Japan.
The year was 2014. The NWT Rebels and Yk Ravens both made the trip to Tomakomai, Japan for the World Broomball Championships.
The Rebels had an all-NWT outfit and took on teams from Australia and Japan and when the dust settled, the Rebels came out on top with the title thanks to a 2-1 win over Australia Dingoes Gold in the gold medal contest.
photo courtesy of NWT Rebels
NNSL Media covered the team's win (Broomball history made, Yellowknifer, Nov. 11, 2014) and spoke with Tina Locke-Setter, the team's captain following the victory.
She said at the time that they were ready to leave everything out on the ice in order to win.
"Everyone on the team had committed before we got there. We all knew were going there for a reason. We were going there to win a medal," she said.
A total of six teams started out in the round-robin and the Rebels took on Sakura Japan in their opening game, which ended in a 0-0 tie. They would then take on the International Swans from Canada and ran away winners, 4-0. They would continue their winning ways by beating Australia Dingoes Green, 3-0, but would taste defeat for the first time courtesy of a 1-0 loss to Australia Dingoes Gold.
They would close out the round-robin with a 3-0 win over Miyabi Japan.
The Rebels then moved into the semifinal round, which featured the top three teams from the round-robin playing each other to see who would advance to play for what medal; the worst they would get was a bronze medal contest.
After dropping another 1-0 decision to Australia Dingoes Gold, the ladies had a must-win contest against Sakura Japan if they had any hope of playing for gold. They came through, 4-1, to advance to the final and a third date with Australia Dingoes Gold.
In the final, the Dingoes opened the scoring in the first half but Orla Tobin would equalize for the Rebels late in the opening stanza. The Rebels would take the lead midway through the second half when Tina Locke-Setter slotted one home.
“You could feel the energy on our side just pick right up,” said Locke-Setter about the goal.
After that, all the Rebels could do was hold on at that point in what Locke-Setter described as the “longest nine minutes ever”. That job was made even tougher when Brenda Tittlemier ended up taking a penalty late in regulation time, putting the Rebels a player short, which the Dingoes then turned into a 6-on-4 when they pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker.
They withstood it, though, and finally beat the Dingoes, 2-1, to win the title.
Third time's the charm, as they say.
“It was crazy,” said Locke-Setter. “Everyone rushed on to the ice. There were sticks and gloves flying everywhere.”
The Rebels are the top seed in NNSL Media's search for the Greatest Of All Time. Voting begins on April 6 at 9 a.m.