hletes and teams from places like Russia, Alaska, Scandinavia and other parts of northern Canada, the contingent from the Slave Lake area at the Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife did very well. Snowshoers Melissa Ross of Slave Lake and Jeff Hastie of Smith both won medals, as did the players on Team Alberta North’s Bantam Male and Junior Female hockey teams.
Goalie Bud Dyck, who plays for the Slave Lake Bantam ‘AA’ Thunder, was a member of the gold medal-winning Alberta North squad that beat Team Yukon 6 – 3 in the final game. Alberta had won three and tied one on the way to the championship game – the tie coming against the same Yukon team. Their other wins were over Alaska ((7 – 3), Northwest Territories (7 – 2) and Nunavut (14 – 0).
The Junior Female team, with locals Megan Melnyczuk, Alexandra Ball and Taiya Ahola, had a tougher time in their tournament. Shut out in their first game by Alaska, they went on in the round robin to tie the NWT 1 – 1 and then beat Yukon 9 – 0 and Nunavut 10 – 0.
In the semis they lost 5 – 1 to the NWT, which put them in the bronze medal game against Yukon. This time it was a 6 – 1 Alberta North victory.
Ahola had a goal and an assist in the tournament; Ball had one assist. Melnyczuk played in both games against the NWT and got the shut-out vs. Nunavut.
In Juvenile Female snowshoeing, Melissa Ross of Slave Lake had a great competition, winning gold at the five-kilometre distance and earning silver at 2.5K as well as in the Combined event. The latter is a series of three sprint races.
Competing in the Junior Male category, Hastie did best in the longest event, finishing 11 seconds back of an Alaskan athlete in the 10K race, good for the silver medal. His time of 52:00.60 was over a minute ahead of the bronze medallist. Hastie was sixth in the 5K and placed fourth in the Combined.
Ivan Snedden, competing in the Juvenile category, finished sixth in both the Combined and the 5K. In the 2.5K he was eighth.
Team Alberta North also competed in a couple of relay events, but finished out of the medals.
Overall, Alberta North finished fourth in the medal standings, behind Alaska, Northwest Territories and Yamal-Nenets, with 29 gold, 37 silver and 24 bronze medals.

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