And with that, senior men's hockey in Yellowknife has officially come to an end for another season.
And it ended with one of the usual contenders on the top of the heap again.
James McCarthy/NNSL photo
The Weaver and Devore Marauders are once again your First Air Rec Hockey Tournament A division champions after knocking off Fuel Flo for the second year running. They did it this year by a score of 4-1, capping off an unbeaten weekend in the process. Their only blemish, if you want to call it that, was a 1-1 tie against Fuel Flo in the opening game of the A division.
Marauders co-captain Ryan Nichols said it took a bit for them to get going, but began to pick things up as the tournament went on.
“I think after we beat Hay River, we started clicking on all cylinders,” he said.
That Hay River team was the Diggerz Bandits, which the Marauders dispatched in the round-robin, 5-3, before handing it to Rankin Inlet, 7-0. After knocking off the Ace Oilers in the semifinal, it was off to the final, a repeat of last year thanks to Fuel Flo knocking off the Polar United Club in their semifinal.
Fuel Flo drew first blood on a power-play late in the first period, but the Marauders drew level early in the second and scored two more unanswered to take a 3-1 lead into the third period. They salted the game away with another goal in the final frame.
“We knew we'd get our chances against those guys,” said Nichols. “They had a tough semifinal against Polar United Club so we just plugged away and managed to open it up in the second period.”
Nichols also said beating Fuel Flo goaltender Jonny Bembridge was always going to be a tough chore.
“He's always good and stops almost everything he can see,” he said. “We just got some traffic in front of him and managed to get a few by him.”
In the other divisions, Ron's Rentals copped the B division crown by defeating the Deline Braves while the Nahanni Inn Flyers of Fort Simpson downed La Loche, Sask., to win the C division. The Independent Eagles from Yellowknife won the D division by defeating the Norman Wells Roughnecks and Choice North Farms, a Fort Smith/Hay River hybrid outfit, beat Fort Simpson Nogha to win the E division.
For the first time in a long time, the number of non-Yellowknife teams outnumbered the Yellowknife squads. Of the 38 teams entered, 20 came from NWT communities or from Nunavut along with La Loche making the trip in from Saskatchewan.
Nichols, who is also president of the Yk Rec Hockey League, said that was an impressive feat.
“I'm happy so many came in to play,” he said. “They spend a lot of money to come into town and it's always good to see that many and play teams we don't normally play.”
Dave Earle, the tournament's chairperson, agreed with Nichols' sentiment.
“We had great help from First Air with that,” he said. “Without the deal they gave the out-of-town teams, they wouldn't have been here. It made for a hugely successful tournament and everyone seemed to have a great time. Lots of good sportsmanship across the board.”