With the high cost of living, things are tougher in Norman Wells these days, but the community's recent Sahtu Cup hockey tournament provided residents with a welcome distraction.
"Any time we can get community engagement, and get folks out and enjoying themselves, it's definitely a huge benefit for our town right now," said Jess Butterfield, who helped organize this year's tournament, alongside her husband Sam.
Norman Wells sits on the Mackenzie River, and is not accessible by all-season road. In the past, the community has been resupplied by ice road in the winter and by barge in the summer. However, warming winter temperatures have impacted recent ice road seasons, and water levels on the river have fallen so low that no barges were able to complete the trip to the community last summer. That has forced the town to rely heavily on aircraft for resupply, which has driven up the price of everything from fuel to food, and left Mayor Frank Pope and 10 MLAs calling for a state of emergency.
The Sahtu Cup did not solve the community's problems, but it provided "a bunch of positive energy" among residents, according to Sam SA国际影视传媒� something that has been in short supply of late.
It was Jess and Sam's first time organizing the Sahtu Cup, which they estimate is now in its 27th year. It's fair to say it was not easy for them.
Sam, who is co-president of Norman Wells Minor Hockey, did not originally intend to organize the tournament, but took the reins when his collaborator was forced to leave town due to a family emergency.
"We were trying not to bother him," he said. "We ended up shortening [the event]. It was going to be a three-day tournament from the start, but we ended up shortening it down to one day, and the board all came together and took on separate things that needed to be done, and we went from there."
Despite the challenges and last-minute changes, the tournament came together. There were three teams competing: one from Norman Wells, another from nearby Tulita, and a third from Deline. Each team came with players of a wide range of ages SA国际影视传媒� some as young as five SA国际影视传媒� but with a bit of fine-tuning, the organizers were able to get three, balanced squads onto the ice.
"Tulita and Deline only had 11 or 12 players each," Sam said. "We had so many young guys on the Norman Wells team that we actually just gave [the other teams] some young guys we had. We did two-minute intervals on shifts, and we played the young guys versus the young guys, and the old guys versus the old guys."
In the end, the tournament title went to the entry from Deline.
Imperial Oil, whose Norman Wells facilities provide the community's power, was a sponsor of the event, and gave out awards to "a bunch of the players" who demonstrated qualities like spirit and dedication, Sam said.
After nearly 30 years, there's little doubt that the Sahtu Cup will return to Norman Wells next winter. The Butterfields are understandably hoping the planning will be a little more straightforward in 2026, but were glad to have seen the delight on the ice this year.
"There were lots of smiling faces," Jess said. "It was awesome."
