Hockey player says goodbye to games

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Robin Sproule, sitting in an overstuffed chair in her living room, pours over the pins she has collected in 16 years of attending the Arctic Winter Games.

The pin book - a half dozen fabric pages enclosed in a carrying case - is laden with pins collected throughout her amateur sports career. Several pages are devoted to an assortment gathered during the games over the years; others are from regional, national and international competitions.

Sproule seems somewhat reflective as she points out the various pins. The hockey player, who is prepared for her 10th Arctic Winter Games, or 18 years of participation, said these will be her last as an athlete.

"I'll miss it," she said. "I like to compete, I'm a competitor, I like being part of the team."

For her first two games, however, Sproule competed as a figure skater. She debuted in 1976 in Quebec at 11 years old, and was one of the youngest members of the N.W.T. contingent. Now, having just turned 30, she's one of the most experienced athletes the territories has.

With 11 medals to her name, not just in figure skating and hockey but also volleyball, basketball and broomball, Sproule's also got a taste for victory that gives an edge to her performance.

Her goaltending performance in '92 Arctic Winter games in Whitehorse played a big role in the team winning a gold. She kept them in contention throughout a nail-biting, double overtime 4-3 victory against a strong Alaska team, which outshot the N.W.T. 61 to 17 in the final.

Sproule has seen a lot of changes in the Arctic Winter Games over the years.

"There's more participation, larger contingents, more quality in how the people participate. The improvement (in performance) is probably because of the coaching," said Sproule.

The cultural component has also grown, especially with the recent addition of Russia and Greenland. They've tended more to individual sports, though, and Sproule said it "would be nice to see them in more team (sports), to give more competition."

While the number of athletes has doubled over the years and northern Alberta, Greenland and Russia have joined the games, one drawback has been that the participants are more spread out and don't spend as much time together. Apart from that, not much has changed that Sproule misses.

"I think it's the only time athletes in the N.W.T. get to go to such a big competition, except the Canada Games if you're lucky. You're meeting a mini-Olympics for a lot of the kids."

She is still a good athlete, although her right knee has been giving her grief. It has been operated on twice in the last eight years, and a third operation was just ruled out by her doctors because of the possibility of inducing arthritis. Two knee braces are part of her regular hockey equipment.

She began the '94 games trying in nets but the position was too demanding and she finds it less painful to play out.

"I wanted to play goal, because to me I have to have something to defend, but after two practices it hurt too much," Sproule explained.

She's participated in women's hockey for all but one set of Games since 1986.

But that doesn't mean she plans to forego the games altogether. "I'd like to try to get into coaching. (It's) a different side to it," Sproule said, adding she may try to be a coach for the next games in two years' time.

As for the 1994 version of the territories' women's hockey team, which features a handful of veterans from the Whitehorse games, Sproule anticipates a pretty good performance this time out.

"I'd say it's the best team that's come out of here," she said. "It's hard to pinpoint who's going to be the one to beat. Alaska and Yukon always have strong teams."