Les Skinner of Inuvik coached Team North to its best result ever at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships two years ago in Ontario, that being a silver medal with the boys team.
He's expecting this year's team to challenge for a medal again.
The 2018 edition of the tournament kicks off on May 6 in Membertou, N.S., and Skinner is once again the bench boss for the boys team with Neco Towtongie of Yellowknife serving as an assistant coach, returning to the position he was in when the boys won silver in 2016.
Skinner, who's in his third consecutive year as head coach, said the preparation is always the same every year, but putting this year's team together was different than in past years.
“With the Arctic Winter Games being in Hay River, Neco and I were able to do a bit of scouting,” he said. “You don't always see a lot of the players, especially the ones from Yukon and Nunavut, so you're going off what the coaches from those territories are telling you and you don't always get a full report. This year was good because we got to see for ourselves.”
There aren't a lot of players from the NWT on this year's boys team and much of the team hails from Nunavut.
Skinner said that's simply because there aren't a lot of players in the bantam and midget boys age group that were available.
“That's the only reason it's that way,” he said. “I asked some of the kids who were eligible, but they've either already committed to other events or they're focusing on school. It's a long commitment – almost two weeks – and for those in high school, it's a deterrent sometimes.”
Still, Skinner has a roster he expects will be in contention and improve on their fifth place finish from one year ago.
He said it was still a good result, but he knows this year can be better.
“I fully expect we'll be challenging for a medal of some sort,” he said. “I always set the goals pretty high for the team and I'm looking to do better this year.”
Team North is in Pool A with Manitoba, the defending boys champions, and Skinner is using them as a benchmark on how to win.
“They started out tough last year, but they got better as the tournament went on,” he said. “It's all about how fast you can come together as a team because it's a short format and the first two games of the tournament are so important. If you win those two, you're guaranteed at least a quarter-final game where if you finish last in your pool, you're playing to not finish last in the tournament. The boys don't all know each other, but we'll be doing some team building. It's all about a team-first mentality.”
For the girls, it's nowhere to go but up as they look to improve on their seventh place finish last year. They'll be in a pool with Saskatchewan, B.C., Eastern Door and North and New Brunswick. This year's team features such players as Sahara Lafferty, who is a perennial Team North player, as well as Kyra McDonald of Inuvik, who played with Lafferty at the Arctic Winter Games last month in Fort Smith.
The girls will open action on May 6 with a game against Eastern Door and North while the boys will get Ontario North in their first game that same day.
See the next edition of News/North for an update.