Flin Flon, Creighton, Denare Beach and Pelican Narrows will be well-represented at the Saskatchewan Games later this month.
A total of 46 athletes and counting in three different sports will represent the communities as part of Team North for the event, which will be held in Lloydminster from July 21-27. The best youth athletes Saskatchewan has to offer will take part in the week-long event, with over 2,000 participants representing nine regions of the province.
The group is headlined by the entirety of the Team North boys’ and girls’ soccer teams. Each player on both teams is a member of the Phantom Lake Soccer Club and grew up playing the game in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The teams consist of players from Flin Flon, Creighton, Denare Beach and a pair of athletes from The Pas.
On the boys’ side, the team will consist of Deakon Anaka, Cohen Brough, Marik Dominey, Jack Dubinak, Johann Elliot, Jaxson Gorrell, Gus Hill, Westyn Hlady, Bentley Jackson, Logan Jobes, Marek Madrigga, Max Menzies, Drew Patterson, Ethan Pawlachuk, Michael Pawlachuk and Damien Roberts. Coaches and managers Erica Christensen, Philip Jobes and Ethan Patterson are also from the area.
The Team North girls’ team will be made up of Anna Christensen, Samantha Dallas, Nicole Dimapiles, Abby Dicks, Violet Eggert, Ava Etienne, Hailey Etienne, Zoey Frisch, Sadie Hynes, Tiarra Kluba, Jocelyn Kozar, Gracelyn McIntosh, Elizabeth Muldoon, Ellis Pearson, Ellyn Smith and Joslyn Tetlock. The team will, once again, be led by coach/managers from the area - Alex Etienne, Blair Etienne and Kara Kozar.
The boys’ soccer teams will have their tournament from July 21-24, while the girls’ tournament will be played from July 24-27. Both teams will play their games at the VLA Soccer Pitches on the east side of Lloydminster.
Two other competitors will also hit the track in the athletics competition - Creighton's Oliver Atchison and Zach Merasty from Denare Beach. Track and field events will take place at Lloydminster Comprehensive High School from July 24-27.
Nearby communities will also be well represented, with 10 paddlers from Pelican Narrows taking part in the canoe and kayak events. Almost the entire Team North paddling group is from the Pelican Narrows area, along with one of the team’s coaches. Moise Cook, Suri Cook, Kohen Custer, Taya Dorin, Summer Dusterbeck, Brody Linklater, Jordan Linklater, Tamira McCallum, Kassie McKay and Ayla Michel will each hit the water for the event, led by coach Chaley Morin, also from Pelican Narrows. The paddlers will take part in races at Killarney Lake north of Lloydminster from July 21-24.
Creighton will also be represented through a key leader for Team North. Ryan Karakochuk, a program manager with the Northern Sport, Culture and Recreation District (NSCRD) and football coach with Creighton Community School, will be one of the team’s two chefs de mission, an organizer and team manager. Joining Karakochuk behind the scenes will be La Ronge’s Tonia Logan, also a NSCRD program manager.
The Games are held every four years, with summer and winter events alternating every two years similarly to the Olympic Games. The summer edition of the Saskatchewan Games has not been held since 2016 in Estevan - the 2020 edition of the games was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Back in 2016, Team North won 14 combined medals, including four golds. Athletes from Cumberland House, Deschambault Lake and Pelican Narrows shone for Team North during the event, with four two-paddler teams winning each of the team’s gold medals in paddling events - Presley McCallum and Caley Morin from Pelican Narrows led the way with two gold medals in the girls’ paddling events, while the teams of Keanu Ballantyne and Danian Sewap (both from Deschambault Lake) and Marcel Budd and Alex Sewap (both from Cumberland House) won golds in the boys’ paddling events.
One medal, a bronze in mixed tennis by Denare Beach’s Haiden Kanto-Lengyel and Creighton’s Brianna Alexander, was won by Flin Flon/Creighton/Denare Beach athletes.
