tre of that area,
acting as a hub for regional flights into neighbouring
communities. From
Norman Wells, the Stanley Cup was taken to
Inuvik, the Land
of the Midnight Sun. Located on the edge of the Arctic
Circle, Inuvik
rests in a unique position between vast tracts of forest
and treeless
tundra.
From Inuvik, the
Cup jumped back from Norman Wells to
Yellowknife and
on to Hay River, a community of 3,600 at the mouth
of Great Slave
Lake in the Northwest
Territories. Hay
River is the home of
NHL veteran Geoff
Sanderson, who
recently joined
the Vancouver Canucks.
The Hay River
hockey program, which
boasts Sanderson
as an alumnus, lined
up by team and
every one of the 140
children
registered had his or her picture
taken with the
Stanley Cup while Marty
and Jay taught
developing players a
new arsenal of
skills. After the last pho-
tograph was
taken, the Cup was
packed in its
custom-built case and
taken to selected
schools in the district.
That evening, a
sumptuous banquet was held at the community cen-
tre, with the
Stanley Cup sitting proudly at the front of the hall.
After stopping at
Hay River, the three accompanying the Stanley
Cup were off to
Cambridge Bay by way of Yellowknife. Cambridge
Bay, also known
as Ikaluktutiak, is a hamlet of 1,200 citizens on the
southern coast of
Victoria Island. The trophy was greeted by RCMP
officers dressed
in full ceremonial uniform. Then it was on to Taloyoak,
a community
formerly known as Spence Bay that sits 460 kilometres
east of
Ikaluktutiak. While waiting their turn to get a picture taken with
the Stanley Cup,
local hockey fans told Phil about the abundant trout
and whitefish
caught locally. But the excitement was reserved for one
reason. As one
young boy told Phil, “I’m so happy to see the Stanley
Cup, I think I’m
going to die!”
The enthusiasm
for the Stanley Cup never waned. The Stanley
Cup ventured to
Iqaluit after its visit to Taloyoak. Like so many com-
munities in the
Arctic, Iqaluit also has ties to the Northwest Passage.
Formerly named
Frobisher Bay, Iqaluit was originally named for Martin
Frobisher, who,
in 1576, became the first explorer to attempt to find a
passage from
Europe to the Far East. Frobisher sailed into the bay
adjacent to the
community in his search for the passage that would
facilitate a
trade route between England and China. In 1987, Frobisher
Bay was renamed
Iqaluit, and the town of 5,000 on the southwestern
coast of Baffin
Island was chosen to be the capital of the newly-creat-
ed territory of
Nunavut in 1995, although Nunavut didn’t officially
become a
territory until 1999.
On Sunday, most
of Iqaluit stood in line for five hours at the Arctic
Winter Games
Arena to get a picture taken with the Stanley Cup.
From Iqaluit, the
Stanley Cup moved four hundred kilometers south-
west to Cape
Dorset, a community of 1,100 residents on the Foxe
Channel. Phil
laughed quietly every time a reference was made to the
Foxe Channel,
thinking about sitting with his kids back home in
Toronto, watching
the Simpsons on an entirely different Fox channel.
This area on
Baffin Island also has a history tied to the Northwest
Passage. In 1631,
British explorer Luke Foxe was attempting to nav-
igate his way
through the ice and islands between the Atlantic and the
Pacific,
sponsored by Edward Sackville, the Earl of Dorset. Although
Captain Foxe was
unsuccessful, he happened upon an island with a
sizeable mountain
he named Cape Dorset in honour of his benefac-
tor. Asnowmobile
sporting a set of caribou antlers tied to the hood was
parked in front
of Cape Dorset’s arena, and Pritchard couldn’t resist
the chance to
get a photograph of the Stanley Cup placed on the
snowmobile.
The Stanley Cup
left Cape Dorset and was destined for
Pangnirtung,
stopping in Iqaluit on the way. But Pangnirtung, mean-
ing ‘the place
of the bull caribou,’ was inaccessible as weather would-
n’t allow the
small plane to land, so the pilot continued flying another
225 kilometres
to Qikiqtarjuaq, formerly
known as
Broughton Island and home to
slightly more
than 500 residents. Known
locally as the
‘Big Island,’ Qikiqtarjuag is locat-
ed off the east
coast of Baffin Island. The area
was settled in
1956 in order to build the DEW
(Distant Early
Warning) Line. When scientists
realized how
vulnerable Canada was to an air
attack, a chain
of sixty-three radar and com-
munications
stations was built starting in
Alaska to the
west and stretching 3,000 miles
to Baffin Island
in the east. The community
sprang up to
create a local DEW Line, and a
Hudson’s Bay
store was opened in 1960 to
supply
necessities to the area. Locals were amazed to see the Stanley
Cup; Pritchard
was told that the area was a prime area to see polar
bears and seals.
The party left
Qikiqtarjuag and skipped to Iqaluit once again. John
Thomas, the
president of Hockey Iqaluit, regarded the trip as unforget-
table. “Most
probably don’t realize how big a role hockey plays in
northern
communities. The biggest impact for many Inuit would have
been to actually
see and touch the Cup, bringing the reality of the Cup
and what it
means to them really hit home. Bringing the Cup into such
small Arctic
communities was actually an emotional experience for
most people as
they could hardly believe it was actually there in their
hometown. I
heard many stories of people crying and in total disbelief
of the whole
experience.”
Marty and Jay
from Hockey Canada then stepped into a plane for
Yellowknife and
would land, later that day, back in Calgary. Phil
Pritchard,
meantime, packed the Stanley Cup and flew to Ottawa.
From Ottawa,
another plane took the Cup and its keeper to Hamilton.
Then, Phil drove
to Yonge and Front in downtown Toronto - the
Hockey Hall of
Fame — the permanent home of the Stanley Cup.
When Phil
Pritchard walked back through the doorway of his home
after traversing
much of Canada’s Arctic in a whirlwind five days, he
was greeted,
nearly deliriously, by his three children. Then, Phil’s four-
year old son
Quinn looked pensive. “Did you meet Santa Claus when
you were at the
North Pole, Daddy?” Phil stopped for a moment, then
broke into a
grin. “Y’know what Quinner, I did! Santa Claus came by
to see the
Stanley Cup!” Quinn let out a whoop and took off down the
hallway,
chanting “My Dad knows Santa Claus; my Dad knows Santa
Claus!”
To the residents
of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories who got
the opportunity
to see the Stanley Cup in person, it was an experience
to last a
lifetime. For Phil Pritchard and the boys from Hockey Canada,
the image of
hockey’s greatest prize against a backdrop of frozen tun-
dra is etched
indelibly in their minds. For little Quinn Pritchard, he’s just
happy to know
Santa Claus loves the Stanley Cup like everybody
else!