TYLER MCKAY CLEARS THE PUCK FOR GOALIE JOEL MONIAS
In a region of the province
where everything seems eons
apart, Cross Lake is just 115
kilometres from Norway
House. Players can, essentially,
play in either community,
and with two teams located
in two small Northern
centres (there are about 8,500
people in Norway House and
4,800 at Cross Lake), there
aren’t a lot of elite Jr. B-level
players from which to draw.
In 2015-16, the expansion
team in Cross Lake brought
home a number of the
local players who had been
playing in Norway House.
As a result, Cross Lake went
15-19-0-0 while Norway
House fell to 1-33-0-0.
Last season, as Norway
House tried to rebuild and
Cross Lake’s players got
better (some of them former
North Stars), the Islanders
went 18-15-0-1 while the
North Stars went 2-32-0-0.
2 6 | G AME O N | D EC EM BER 2017
It was a very difficult year
for Coach Anderson and the
kids who showed up to get
hammered on a regular basis.
This team lost its final four
games by scores of 15-4 to
OCN, 13-5 to Cross Lake, 8-2
to Peguis and 22-4 to OCN.
In that final loss, only seven
players got on the bus and
survived the six hour ride to
Opaskwayak Cree Nation.
“Yeah, it was pretty
lonesome on that bus at times
last year,” said Anderson,
never losing his sense of
humor. “It was even more
lonesome on the bench. There
were some nights when I
had one or two guys sitting
with me. In that final game,
there wasn’t anybody.”
But this year, things
are different. At least, for
Anderson they feel as if
they’re different. The team
usually has 16-18 skaters
and two goalies ready to go
every night and during the
warmups, they look like a fine
tuned machine. If nothing
else, a worthy opponent.
“Yeah, this is a different
hockey team,” said Anderson
with a smile. “I won’t go too
far out on a limb and say, the
Norway House North Stars
are back, but we’re better
and the way things are going,
we should be better all year.
We’ve got a lot of players
from the community who are
committed to the team and
that makes a big difference.
I could always use a goalie
and a couple of first-rate
defensemen, but I think the
Winnipeg Jets say that, too,
so we aren’t much different
than any other team.
“And we’ve already
won a game. It’s not a
championship, but for us
to win a game this early in
the season, it’s a big deal.”
It’s a big deal because the
North Stars couldn’t play a
pre-season game this year.
Seems the community didn’t
put any ice in the arena until
four days before the first
game of the KJHL schedule.
Anderson was barely able
to practice before the team
opened the season with a
shocking 6-3 win at home
against Fisher River.
“We have some pretty go od
players this year,” Anderson
said. “Hunter York, Tanner
Poker, Glen Paupanekis is
back after spending a year
in Winnipeg, Tyler McKay,
Harley Muminawatum,
Braden Simpson and the
rookie Richard Ducharme
who is just 16. It gives
us a pretty good core.
“We have a goalie from
Wasagamack named Joel
Monias. He’s the only player
who doesn’t come from our
community. He’s 18 and this
is his first year of organized