The past year has been an unpleasant hockey journey for Panniuq Karetak and his 15-year-old son, Shea, in some regards and a learning curve in others.

Shea was playing for Team Nunavut's U15 hockey team at at the 2024 Arctic Winter Games (AWG) in Mat-Su Valley in Alaska from March 10-16, 2024, when he was wrongly accused of stealing vapes from a gas bar with other Nunavut youth who were all at the gas bar unsupervised.

Panniuq said the family still hasn't been offered an apology from Sport Nunavut regarding the issue, and they just want to put it all behind them once and for all.

He said the family was determined to not let opportunities be taken away from Shea, who has been informed he can try out for any Nunavut hockey team in his age bracket moving forward.

SA国际影视传媒淪hea is a good kid,SA国际影视传媒� said Panniuq. SA国际影视传媒淗e's been in hockey tournaments. He's been in soccer tournaments and he's travelled without us a few times and we've always heard nothing but good things.

SA国际影视传媒淭hing get taken too far sometimes and that's what happened in this case with Shea.SA国际影视传媒�

Panniuq said he still harbours harsh feelings about the whole ordeal, and he just wants Shea to be comfortable moving on with his hockey career and enjoy playing the game.

He said the family's happy Shea got his jerseys back recently from the AWG and, hopefully, everyone can move forward from this point.

SA国际影视传媒淭hey aren't the originals, but they gave us brand-new jerseys and my son has been looking at them every day since he got them, so that's been pretty sweet.

SA国际影视传媒淥ne of my things about it still, however, is that it's Hockey Nunavut's policy that coaches have to supervise the youth outside the rink, so I feel bad for all the kids that got caught up in that last year.

SA国际影视传媒淚t should never have happened to begin with.SA国际影视传媒�

He said when the family appealed Sport Nunavut's original decision to discipline Shea in regards to the matter, the AWG committee accepted the appeal and forwarded its own letter advising Sport Nunavut to retract its disciplinary actions that were taken against Shea.

SA国际影视传媒淪port Nunavut were provided with instructions to give our son his AWG gear back, including his jerseys and other stuff.

SA国际影视传媒淎t the time, we were under the impression that we would get it all back right away but Sport Nunavut just never replied to us. I don't know how many e-mails we sent throughout the year, but it wasn't until we got in touch with the minister responsible for the Sport and Recreation Division (John Main) a couple of months ago that Hockey Nunavut got in touch with us and told us that they would be giving my son his jerseys back.

SA国际影视传媒淪hea is proud of the jersey and is pretty happy now with how it all turned out. And we, as parents, are pretty happy ourselves. We've decided that we're going to get one of them (jersey) framed.

SA国际影视传媒淚 think Shea, kind of, knows what to expect now when it comes to territorial tryouts and anything that involves Hockey Nunavut. We've all just accepted that it is what it is and he's (Shea) ready to move forward now.SA国际影视传媒�

Panniuq said he's just relieved it's all behind them now for many reasons.

He said he coached at the Polar Bear Plate this year for the first time and it was really challenging for him.

SA国际影视传媒淵ou put yourself in a vulnerable position just from the fans, so it was something totally new for me, dealing with the U18s and everything that was going on in Iqaluit.

SA国际影视传媒淭hat was my first time going there as a coach, so it was a bit of a learning curve for me. I think if I were to do it again I'd be more prepared mentally. I told the kids at the last tournament a few weeks ago that it might be my last year coaching. I feel like I owe my family more of my time.

SA国际影视传媒淩ankin's always been hurting for coaches and I would really like to encourage people to step up and look at it as an opportunity to give back to your community. It's helped me grow a lot as a person.

SA国际影视传媒淵ou learn a lot about the game and you're not just volunteering on the ice. You're volunteering your time to also learn how to become a better coach. It's worth the time and effort you put in.SA国际影视传媒�