Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the past two months, the community of Fort Simpson held three hockey tournaments. Starting January 20, three teams from Fort Simpson faced off against teams from Hay River, Fort Providence, and Deline during the 30th annual senior men's hockey tournament.
The fans got to see some amazing hockey, with an ultimate win for the Hay River Huskies over the team from Deline in the final. The Huskies played Fort Providence in the semi-finals. After 60 minutes the game was tied; overtime didn't solve anything, so both teams went to a shootout.
Mr. Speaker, the Deline Braves had a slow start to the tournament because of travel delays. Due to the delays, they had to forfeit their first round robin game, but made up for it over the rest of the weekend by winning all their games except the final game.
The third and fourth games saw two rivals playing against each other. It was a great game that saw the play go back and forth. In the end, the Nahanni Inn Flyers won the game 2-0 against the Fort Providence Bulls.
The next weekend, January 27-29, saw some of the finest women's hockey players come together to battle for the annual Moosehide Mammas hockey tournament. The tournament saw teams from Yellowknife, Fort Nelson, and Fort Smith duke it out with the Mammas. As the weekend before, the fans were entertained with some of the best women's hockey. After the round robin, the Mammas were in fifth place. The semi-finals saw Fort Nelson win against Yellowknife Blue, and Yellowknife White won against Fort Smith. The final game saw YK White beat the Fort Nelson lcehawks to win the tournament, with YK Blue winning the third place consolation game.
Mr. Speaker, with these two tournaments completed, you would think that the community, fans, and organizers would be happy with all the hockey they witnessed these two weekends. No, this past weekend the community and the two hockey associations decided that they should host the first Dehcho Old-Timers Tournament.
The tournament saw two local teams and a team from Hay River play a double round robin starting February 24, and the playoffs on Sunday. After the round robin was completed, Fort Simpson Nogha's team ended up in first place, leaving Hay River and the Fort Simpson Flyers to battle it out for the right to play in the finals. After all the smoke cleared, Hay River ended up winning the tournament.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to say that each hockey group, including Minor Hockey, worked together to organize and run these tournaments. It was great to see the groups come together to offer three great events. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Thank you.
---Unanimous consent granted