Team North wins historic silver medal at National Aboriginal Hockey Championships

A Northern contingent has been represented at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships for the past dozen years, but this year's men's team has come home from this year's tournament in Mississauga, Ontario with something entirely new — silver medals. 

The team, made up of players from Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, won their first medals ever at the tournament last weekend, defeating Team Ontario in the semi-final game before losing to British Columbia in the finals. 

"Past years, we've either been — last year we were sixth or something like that," said Kaidan Mcdonald, a defenceman from Inuvik, Northwest Territories. "Team North had never actually gotten past the quarter-finals, so when we made the semi-finals we were already making history. Then getting to the gold-medal game was just surreal."

• Kaidan Mcdonald to appear on APTN's 'Hit the Ice'

To get there, Team North had to face a daunting opponent: traditional powerhouse Team Ontario, playing on their own home ice. You'd think that would be a little daunting, but according to organizer Greg Hopf, the executive director of the Aboriginal Sport Circle of the N.W.T., support for Team North was building. 

"As our boys' team was going on, they started gathering momentum — and what I mean by that is they were gathering fans," said Hopf. "More people were getting behind our little boys from the North. By the time of our semi-final against Ontario, we had a lot of fans.

"And it's kind of weird, we're in Ontario, you'd think the fans would be cheering for Ontario but we had a following."

Dramatic finish

Playing the role of the underdog, Team North took a 4-3 lead during the game and held it until the waning seconds. With just 11 seconds to go, though, Ontario tied the game, sending it into overtime. 

"I just wanted time to tick down," said Mcdonald, "and then they ended up scoring to tie it up. That was kinda scary."

The game went into overtime, leaving the team little time to regroup. However, a few minutes into the game, a player from Whitehorse, Yukon provided the pivotal moment. 

• WATCH: Team North's semi-final game against Ontario: skip to 2:07:30 for the finish

"We ended up entering the zone, we were cycling it and a player from Whitehorse, Jonas Leas, he had the puck and he came around the net and pretty much just threw it on net," said Mcdonald. "It ended up going over the goalie's shoulder. I think it hit the crossbar, then hit his shoulder, then went in."

The team erupted into celebration, a historic result secured and a massive win for Team North. 

"I just think people were looking out for us," said Hopf. "It was crazy to hear the stories, to see the kids' faces. They've accomplished something that no other team before them has ever accomplished."

"That's one of the craziest games of hockey I've ever played," said Mcdonald. "I can't even describe what I was feeling. It gives me goosebumps talking about it."

Though Team North was unable to complete its miracle run, losing 3-0 to British Columbia in the final, Hopf said the result represents a major step forward for hockey programs in the three territories. 

"They still changed history," he said. "They still went to accomplish something that no other Team North has done in the past 12 years.

"In the early days, those days were 10-2 losses, 11-0. It's so rewarding to come out of those years and all of that years you've put in, going through those big losses... to finally see them when they're winning and go to the semi-final, then the final — it's really just awe-inspiring."