The Philippine Online Chronicles

The sixth day of competition was all about the final stages of the team events. With almost all the other sports already winding down with their final stages, the other members of the contingents were given a chance to support athletes who were taking part in the basketball, hockey, indoor soccer and volleyball competitions.

Basketball

In the semifinal game for men’s basketball, Team Northwest Territories edged out Alaska with a nailbiter of a finish. The lower seeded Northwestern Territories team beat their American counterparts 82-78. Alaska was actually leading at the end of the third quarter at 59-58 but the Northwestern Territories was not about to give up the fight that easily. Jacob Sullivan scored 10 points in the final quarter to buoy the Canadians to a four point win. Jesse Brake also had a solid game with 17 points to show for the effort. Alaska’s John Hajdukovich scored 16 points to lead the team. The box scores could easily be accessible via the GEMS site for the Arctic Winter Games. The win allowed Northwest Territories to advance to the gold medal match and avenge their bitter 61-59 defeat at the hands of Alaska during the preliminaries.

Top seed Alberta North squared off with Team Yukon. Alberta North beat Yukon during the preliminaries 79-58. The host contingent Alberta North was very strong in the preliminaries. They outscored their opponents 312-227 over the past four games. They also won all four of their preliminary games. The top team after the preliminaries lived up to their billing as they handily beat the team from Yukon 71-56. Lance Macdaid led Alberta North in scoring with 14 points while Zackery Duinker and Adam Lehners chipped in 12 apiece. Rowan Hugard paced Yukon with 19 points. Logan Gray had 18 points.

Alberta North will be facing third seed Northwest Territories for the gold medal tomorrow while Alaska will be up against the cagers from Yukon for the bronze medal match. Alberta North smashed the Northwest Territories 91-66 during the preliminaries making them heavy favorites to win the gold. Alaska narrowly edged out Yukon 69-64 in their classification match.

For the women’s division in basketball, top seed Team Northwest Territories went head to head with fourth seed Team Alaska. This was a repeat of the same matchup in the men’s division and once again, it was Northwest Territories that was victorious. The top seed team repeated their 55-45 conquest of Alaska in the preliminaries with a thrilling 61-59 victory in the semifinals. An upset at this stage of the tournament would have been very catastrophic for Northwest Territories. The team dominated the preliminaries winning all four matches and outscoring their opponents by a combined margin of 82 points. Skylar Urschel who has been spectacular on the offensive end for the entire tournament scored 23 points for Northwest Territories including 14 of the entire team’s 19 points in the final quarter. Aminata Cole had 18 points for Alaska but could only score 3 points in the payoff quarter.

The battle between the middle seeds was a bit more predictable. The host team Team Alberta North drubbed team Yukon 65-41 to advance to the gold medal game. The win made the finals of both the men and women’s basketball tournaments similar in terms of the match configurations – it was Alberta North and Northwest Territories for the championship with Alaska and Yukon relegated to a battle for third. Jesse Lariverie scored 23 points for Alberta North with Miriah Saban getting 15. No player from Yukon managed to score more than 8 points.

Hockey

Ice hockey will always have a special place in the hearts of the players and viewers of the Arctic Winter Games and the ice at Grande Prairie certainly was witness to exciting hockey action.

For the women’s category, Team Yukon successfully edged out Team Alaska 4-3. The two teams drew their preliminary matches 1-1. Chantelle Rivest scored the first goal of match at the 10:33 mark in the first period and quite fittingly, she also scored the goal that ended up being the winning scoreat the 2:59 mark of the third period.

The other semifinal match was not as close. Alberta North shut out the Northwest Territories 4-0. This was an exact repeat of the same 4-0 score line that was the result of their meeting during the preliminary stage. Four different players scored for Alberta North. Jazmine Ferguson scored the final goal and had 2 assists for the game.

This sets up an Alberta North versus Team Yukon finale for the gold medal while Alaska and Northwestern Territories will be squaring off for the bronze. Yukon probably isn’t too excited to face Alberta North since they got decimated with a 5-0 score line during their preliminary match. Alaska won their match against the Northwest Territories during the preliminaries, 3-1.

In the midget male category, Team Nunavut found the host Team Alberta North too much to handle as they crashed out of gold medal contention 3-6. The preliminary match as much tighter at 3-3 but it seemed like the home crowd really buoyed the boys. Colton Deley of Team North Alberta had 2 goals for the match along with an assists. Shawn Pickett also had 2 goals.

Team Alaska managed to get to the finals after beating Team Yukon 4 goals to 2. Alaska’s Connor Deal scored 2 goals and dished out one assist. Yukon was found themselves trailing 1-0 and 2-1 but had three goals in the third quarter to make up for the deficit.

Team Alaska will be facing Team Alberta North for the gold medal while Yukon will be facing off with the team from Nunavut.

For the bantam male category, Team Northwest Territories broke the heart of the hometown supporters when they narrowly defeated Team Alberta North 4-3. Many people were expecting an easier road to the finals provided how Alberta North took care of Northwest Territories via a 5-2 result in the preliminary stages. Jacob Schofield scored the winning goal with 8:32 left in the fourth quarter and also had an assist in three of the four other goals scored by the team. Alberta North’s Paul Lovsin scored 2 goals.

Team Alaska also suffered an inexplicable and heart breaking loss when they were outdone by Nunavut 4-3 in the other semifinal match. The Alaskans were able to trounce Team Nunavut by a score of 10-4 in the preliminaries yet they failed to advance to the gold medal round. Andrew Cummings could only score one goal – after scoring four in the preliminary match against Nunavut. Nunavut had 4 goals in the first half and Alaska just couldn’t find a way to equalize in the second half. Lodie Ipeelie Jr. had 3 points on two goals and an assist.

With the two unexpected upsets, Northwest Territories and Nunavut now find themselves at the top of the mountain with one match to go with the fallen favorites Team Alberta North and Alaska left to duke it out for the bronze medal.

Indoor Soccer

For the intermediate division for women, Team Sapmi faced off with team Nunavut for the chance to advance to the finals. Sapmi was a heavy favorite due to their unbeaten record and their 8-2 drubbing of Nunavut in the preliminary round robin stage. Sapmi didn’t disappoint as they demolished the Nunavut squad 12-1 in convincing fashion. The 12 goals that Sapmi scores was the most ever scored in a match for the entire tournament. Kristina Hansen and Tonje Nilssen both had had tricks (three goals) for the composite team composed of athletes from Norway, Sweden, Finland and some parts of Russia.

Team Alaska also did easy work of their semifinal opponent Northwest Territories. Alaska advanced to the gold medal match 5-1. Casey Coupchiak had three goals for Alaska.

With only four teams competing in the division, all four teams were assured of a semifinals berth from the very beginning. The round robin was just meant to classify the teams according to seeding. The top two seeds were clearly the more superior teams and Sapmi and Alaska would be given a chance to see who the best in the Arctic for indoor soccer is as well as fight for the gold medal tomorrow. Sapmi narrowly won over Alaska 4-3 during the preliminary stages and are slight favorites heading into the finals. Northwest Territories beat Nunavut 7-4 during the preliminary round and will be favored to win the bronze.

For the Junior Male division, Team Yukon was the top seed after finishing the round robin stage with four wins and a draw to their name. They faced off with Greenland who had 2 wins, a draw and 2 losses. During their meeting in the preliminary stage, Greenland was humbled 4-1. The semifinal match was quite a different story though. Greenland defied all odds and shut out Team Yukon two goals to nil. Karl-Peter Simonsen and Patrick Street scored the two goals for Greenland. The top scorer of the tournament, Yukon’s Walker Ewing was ineffective during the match.

Alberta North faced off with Northwest Territories and were able to advance to the gold medal match thanks to a 3-0 score line. Ryan McNally led the charge for the hometown boys with two goals to his name.

Alberta North will be facing off with Greenland for the gold medal. Alberta North beat Greenland 3-2 in the preliminaries but given how the fourth seed team managed to knock off the supposed best team in the tournament, it would be very hard to best against Greenland. The bronze will be a toss up between Northwest Territories and Yukon. The preliminary match between the two teams ended in a draw at two goals each.

In the Junior female category, it was yet another story of the top seed being upset by the lowest seed that advanced to the knock out stages. Team Alaska entered the semifinals with just 2 wins, a draw and 2 losses to their name but ended up beating a Alberta North Team that went through the round robin undefeated. Alaska won 4-2 to avenge the bitter 3-2 defeat in the preliminaries. Jackie Klecka had two goals for Team Alaska.

The other semifinal match had the higher seed prevailing. Team Northwestern Territories made it to the goal medal match after beating Team Yukon 2-1.

Alaska faces with Northwest Territories for the gold while the bronze will be a tussle between Yukon and Alberta North.

The juvenile male division had one of the biggest fields in all of the team sport competitions. Seven of the nine contingents sent a team and almost all were competing at a high level. The top seeded team Greenland who won five of their six matches in the round robin fell victim to the fourth seed Team Yukon, 2-3. Greenland earlier won the preliminary match 3-2, but was unable to duplicate the feat in the semifinal. Kurtis Hills scored two goals for Yukon.

Yamal-Nenets and Team Alberta North set up an epic semifinal collision that was easily the most exciting of all the indoor soccer matches to date. The second seeded Yamal-Nenets managed to squeak by with 8-7 win in a very high scoring affair.

Yamal-Nenets will be facing off with Yukon for the gold medal while Alberta North will be going up against Greenland for the bronze.

The juvenile female division only had five teams in the line up. Team Alberta North tore through the round robin and won all four matches. They also outscored their opponents 40 to 7. They faced Team Northwest Territories in the semifinal whom they beat earlier 7-3 in the preliminaries. The host contingent didn’t disappoint as they won the match 3-1 and advanced to the gold medal match. Madison Robak of Team Alberta North scored two goals.

In the other semifinal, Team Alaska made easy work of Yukon, 4-1. Susan Fleurant had two goals for Alaska.

Alaska will be meeting heavy favorites Team North Alberta for the final match. Team Alberta North is favored coming in because they steamrolled past Alaska via a 10-3 rout in the preliminaries. Yukon will be going up against Northwest Territories for the bronze medal. Yukon is a slight favorite after beating Northwest Territories 2-1 in the preliminary stages.

Volleyball

The men’s division of volleyball competitions featured the participation of five contingents. Alberta North topped the qualifications easily after winning all four matches. They set up a date with the fourth seed Northwest Territories. Alberta North easily defeated the Northwest Territories in straight sets 25-8, 25-10. This was a repeat of the straight sets victory that they registered over the same team during the round robin qualifications.

Team Yukon also did easy work of third seed Nunavut winning in two sets, 25-12, 25-16. The win was a repeat of Yukon’s earlier two set victory in the round robin.

Team Yukon will be facing off with the Alberta North for the gold medal while Northwest Territories would have to best Nunavut to win the bronze. Yukon was able to force a third set against Alberta North in the round robin so the gold medal match promises to be exciting. Nunavut defeated the Northwestern Territories in straight sets during the preliminaries.

For the women’s category, six contingents were represented. Team Alaska emerged unblemished with five matches won without any dropped set all throughout the tournament. They faced Team Yukon who had a record of 2-3 record that paled in comparison. Alaska also lambasted Yukon 25-22, 25-8 in the preliminaries. The semifinal was no different. Alaska easily eliminated Yukon from gold medal contention as they won in two sets 25-12, 25-9.

The other semifinal featured Alberta North who won all their matches and sets not played against Alaska in the round robin. They defeated Team Nunavut with relative ease via a 25-19, 25-11 score line.

Alberta North advances to the finals to play Alaska that will be a rematch of the one-sided 25-17, 25-19 affair that was the round robin match. Nunavut will try to repeat its win over Yukon in the preliminaries as they square off anew in the bronze medal match.

All the gold medal matches for all the team sports will be played tomorrow.

Relive the Arctic Winter Games

Intro | Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Finale

Photo by Xander.