It’s 4-3 late in the third period of the semi final National Aboriginal Hockey Championships. Powerhouse Ontario is trailing underdogs Team North – a team made up of athletes from Nunavut, the North West Territories and Yukon.

Team North thinks they can hold on to the lead until the buzzer, but with just over 10 seconds on the clock, a shot on net crushes their hopes. Tied at the end of the third, the teams go to overtime.

After a short break they’re back on the ice, vying hard for that spot in the finals. The whistle goes – a tripping violation against Ontario. There’s an opening for Team North, but their power play line hasn’t been performing. The seconds tick down and Kaidan McDonald brings it into the zone, he fires a pass that hits the boards and slides towards Jonas Leas, the 16-year-old from Yukon. Leas skates around the back of the net and fires the shot. It hits the crossbar, then the goalie’s shoulder and drops in.

“I shot it really hard,” said Leas. “I was overjoyed. It was a proud moment.”

Fellow linemate and Whitehorse Mustangs regular Johnny Elias was in front of the net when the shot went off. He didn’t see the goal, but saw the relief and joy on his teammate’s face.“It was quite relieving to say the least,” said Elias.

With the OT 5-4 win, Team North 2016 became the first team from the territories to qualify a spot in the finals. They had already made history by skating in a quarter-final game and the perfect end to their fairytale story would be contested two days later in the gold medal match against B.C.

The Team North Aboriginal Hockey Program is run by the Aboriginal Sport Circle NWT. Each year they work with territorial hockey associations to scout players and establish their team. The program focuses not only on building a successful hockey team, but building an all-around great person and athlete. Greg Hopf, executive director of Aboriginal Sport Circle NWT calls it a holistic approach.

“We’re going to work on your cultural, spiritual, physical and mental sides of your life,” he said. “We work on all that, it’s not just about hockey. After you come out of the program, you’re going to be a new person.”

The teams travel to the tournament and have support staff that go with them, including an elder.

“It’s life-changing,” he said. “For a kid that has maybe never left his community to being smack dab in the middle of Toronto.”

This year’s edition of the tournament saw teams converge on Mississauga’s Hershey Centre in the GTA.

Team North hasn’t always been a team to beat and Hopf remembers a decade ago when it was first being established.

“Those were tough days. We were losing games 10-0,” he said. “It was very hard to motivate those kids.”

But they remained faithful to the program and this year told the players “Believe in yourself and success will come.”

Soon after their game one 3-2 victory over Alberta, the players started to buy in. It was further cemented by their 5-1 win over Atlantic in game two.

“We collectively bought into what the team and the coaches were preaching,” said Elias, who at 15, was the youngest on the team.

The motto: be better everyday and play with heart.

“Gone are the days when we we’re a doormat to the other teams,” said Hopf.

In the past teams would play their back-up goalies and lesser players against Team North.

“We’re no longer an easy win.”

Each step past quarter finals was further than any team before them had gone. They played for gold against B.C., whom they had lost to earlier in the tournament 2-6. Goalie Josh Tetlicihi said his team knew B.C. was going to be tough to beat.

“We knew they were good; we had to go in there and think we were better,” he said.

Team North lost the game 3-0.

“We were pretty disappointed that we battled that far and came so close but at the end of the day to sit back and look that we came second in the country, it’s pretty cool,” said Elias.

“We got the silver medal but honestly that’s a gold for Team North,” said Tetlichi, who played his final game with the team as he ages out. “It’s crazy we even went to the final game I think everyone was happy with that.”

It was an emotional dressing room after the final game as all the experiences from the tournament resurfaced. There were tears, but joyful ones. Their time in Ontario wasn’t just about the hockey either, they built a team and friendships that can never be broken.

“It’s something that no one can take away from them,” said Hopf. “It’s a brotherhood that is formed and will never be broken.”

The bar for next year’s team remains high.

“Expectations now is to win the damn thing,” said Hopf.

And with three-quarters of the team eligible to return next year Leas said, “I think we’ll be able to match that.”

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Women finish 8th

A contingent of Yukon women also competed for Team North on the ladies’ side of the tournament. Shania Hogan, Monica Johnson, Zoe Leas, Samantha McLeod, Maya Oakley and Sierra Oakley all suited up in the Team North jersey.

Assistant coach Candice MacEachen said that it was another great tournament.

“As long as they know they’ve played the best they can, they’re happy,” she said.

She said their best game was against Saskatchewan when the girls still had a shot at playing for a medal.

“They definitely kept Saskatchewan on their toes,” she said. They lost the game 7-1. Saskatchewan would go on to win gold.