‘Like we could do it too’: Iqaluit U-13 girls hockey team inspired by Team Nunavut’s AWG breakthrough
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Ask 10-year-old Marissa Holland her favourite part of the recent hockey tournament and she’ll say “winning lots of our games.”
After winning just a single game at last year’s tournament in Ottawa, this year the Iqaluit Blizzard U-13 girls hockey team won five out of their six games, coming home with a silver medal.
“It made me feel proud of our team and proud of myself,” Marissa said, smiling.
Coach Chloe Norris says what makes this team so good compared to previous years is the bond the girls have with each other.
“I really see a sisterhood bonding here,” she said. “Previously, they would always have to play co-ed. Now they have the chance to flourish and play just with an all-female team. So we’re noticing the chemistry that’s being built and the lessons that are being learned and just the fun that they’re having on the ice.”
Norris says it’s important for young girls to play with girls and not in a co-ed league. This way they can bond together and improve their skills.
Marissa says the most fun part of the tournament was being with her teammates and making memories together.
“In the hotel like running away while knocking on people’s doors, having fun, staying up late and having snacks in the hallways and eating with our team in the hallway and doing our makeup and hair for the Sens game,” she said, listing all the memories she made with teammates.
Norris says the emphasis on having young girls play together was why the team was created in the first place in 2023.
“We decided because a lot of adolescent young girls drop out of sport, that it would be super important to have a minor female team where the girls could just play with females every week,” Norris said. “We went from having no dedicated ice time every week to having at least two and a half hours.”
After winning only one game at the tournament last year this year, the team walked away with a silver medal. Bianca McKeown reports.
Nunavut girls hockey AWG win felt like ‘we’re in history’
Norris says the Nunavut girls hockey team winning a bronze ulu at the Arctic Winter Games just last month was a huge motivator for her young team.
“We were cheering from home. I think a few of us coaches had tears just watching those girls that we know from growing up in Nunavut,” she said.
Norris says the AWG players are great role models for her team and that some of the players even came to speak to the girls before their semi-finals game in the tournament.
“They’re an inspiration to all of these girls,” Norris said. “Those girls on and off the ice, they show so much resilience, so much sportsmanship, teamwork, positivity and [in] our young girls we are trying to instill those same values.”
Mia Holland, 12, said watching the Nunavut girls team win an ulu for the first-time ever made her feel “like we could do it too” with her sister Marissa adding it felt like “we’re in history.”
Mia says winning silver at this tournament felt “incredible” because no other Iqaluit minor female hockey team ever won before.
With the AWG win and now the second place finish at this tournament, Norris says she hopes this momentum encourages even more Nunavut girls to play hockey.
“We’re really hoping that just like the older girls inspired our minor female girls, that our minor female girls getting the silver medal may inspire the younger generation, even younger than them,” she said. “We’re hoping to see more girls out next season.”
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