Arctic Winter Games Hockey Report: Grossmann and Smith Score!

Greetings from Yellowknife and day 2 of the games. The Bantam Boys Hockey team coached by Mike Tvenge had a better day today than yesterday. Monday they came up against a fast moving Alberta team and though they had the scored tied up 3-3 until the last 14 seconds of the 2nd period, Alberta rallied in the third and sunk 4 more biscuits in the net to beat Alaska 7-3. Tuesday was a more positive day. Coach Tvenge and Team Alaska faced the tough looking team from Nunavut, Canada. Nunavut was a hard hitting team and there was a lot of intense checking going on, but Alaska had more skill on the blades and the stick and won the game 17-0. Brett Smith recorded a goal and Jacob Schultz had an assist. Coach Tvenge commented that the boys did pretty well but he is still working with them on some aspects of their games they need to improve before they come up against the tough NWT and Yukon teams.

Annie Grossmann and The female Hockey Team AK girls had 2 great days on the ice. Monday was a hard fought battle against a solid Alberta team with a 2-0 win. Alberta is the team that beat TeamAK last year in the Gold Medal Round by 1 goal with just 3 minutes left. Annie and her team mates were proud to come home with a silver Uluu from the 2006 AWG, but are determined to bring home gold this year. So beating Alberta in the first game was a real boost. The Women played Nunavut today and though Nunavut scored 2 goals on 4 shots in the first period, Alaska rallied in the second and third to win 10-2. Annie scored a goal, had an assist and 4 penalty minutes. Standings so far have the Team AK Women in 1st place and the Bantam Male team in 3rd place. On Thursday the top 4 teams go into crossover games and Friday will be the sold out Medal Rounds.

The weather was a little cooler today in Yellowknife, but we still enjoyed walking to the rink and the cafeteria. The cafeteria has been the hot spot for pin trading the last 2 days. Each contingent brings a set of pins to swap with the other participants. The pins are beautiful and unique and lots of fun to trade for. It is not uncommon to see circles of athletes sitting on the floor or around a table making deals to complete sets and get that special pin they having been looking for. As I was waiting in line for lunch today, a young man from Yamal in Russia, tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I wanted to trade my coveted AWG Hockey pin for something. He communicated by pointing to my pin and saying “Trade?” I wasn`t willing to part with that pin but we worked out a deal for another pin. It’s great how even though we don`t speak each other’s language we were able to come away with a nod and a smile, “Good trade,” was our parting comment.

Tomorrow both teams hit the ice again and hope for wins to make it to the crossover rounds.
For now, good night.
Dawn Grossmann