A win and a loss for the Unity Cup

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The big winner at this year's Northern Star Unity Cup charity tournament is the student population that will benefit from the fundraiser's best year yet. The big loser is the tournament itself, with their main organizer stepping down after five years.

The Unity Cup is one of the largest Aboriginal hockey tournaments held annually in Ontario. It was played at Pete Palangio Arena on Feb. 8 to 10.

This is the fifth year for the Northern Star Unity Cup tourney. Twenty-three teams from Ontario and Quebec attended. Participants vie for individual awards and top team honors in four divisions: Women's, Junior (youth 16 -20), Sportsman (21+) and Old-timers (35+).

Spectators gave good support to all the games, with the usual rivalry between the teams from Wikwemikong on Manitoulin Island and the teams from James Bay, a favorite with the fans. Wikwemikong teams were the ones to beat and ended up the champions in three of the four divisions. Host community Nipissing First Nation had to settle for second place in two divisions.

One of the best final games was the junior division showdown between Wikwemikong and Nipissing that culminated in an overtime win for Wikwemikong. There was just enough physical action on the ice to satisfy the fans with the Bear Island (Temagami First Nation) sportsman's team being providing the fans a show of fisticuffs in their game against Wikwemikong.

The Northern Star Unity Cup is an annual fundraiser with all the proceeds going towards Aboriginal youth and their education and this year was the best to date for funds raised by this tournament.

"Profits from the tournament will be directed towards scholarships and bursaries for Native student's post secondary education. More than $5,000 was raised this year for student scholarships and bursaries, making it our best year yet," said Charlie Small, counsellor with the Aboriginal Learning Unit at Canadore College and chair of the Northern Star Unity Cup. "This money will be awarded to students starting school this coming September."

Charlie Small is from James Bay and comes from a hockey family. He has a deep love for the game. His children and many of his relatives play hockey.

Small has been involved in organizing this annual hockey tournament for all of it's five years, however, he is finding it more and more difficult to run each year and is stepping down.

"Each year the same small group of volunteers run the show with little or no help from others. If I step down I don't know who will take over running the tournament.

"Canadore College, as a beneficiary of the bursaries and scholarships has expressed an interest. Other than that I don't know who would run this event. I know that a lot of Aboriginal kids play hockey and this tournament is important to them. It is also important as a fundraiser for post-secondary education for Aboriginal people going to school in this city. And now that North Bay has lost it's OHL franchise, the more hockey that can be brought into the city the better," said Small.