All in all, it’s been a pretty impressive run for a team motivator.
Patrick Tagoona coached the Karetakers to victory in the ‘A’ Division of the Terence Tootoo Memorial in Rankin Inlet and the Rankin Falcons to top spot in the 2024 North American First Nations Tournament of Champions A-side in Kenora, Ont.
He will go for the triple crown with the Rankin Falcons at the 2024 Fred Sasakamoose “Chief Thunderstick” National Hockey Championship in Saskatoon, Sask., May 16-19.
Tagoona has been involved with coaching minor hockey off and on for more than 30 years.
He said the biggest difference between coaching minor hockey and senior men’s is the level of maturity with the players and the aspects of the game concentrated on.
“When you’re coaching U11 to U15, you’re still stressing the fundamentals of skating hard, passing and working hard,” said Tagoona.
“And, really, when you get to the senior level, it’s the same fundamentals the players learned in minor hockey, but now they’re being applied at a higher, faster level.
“With senior men’s, it’s much more about structure and team play.
“In minor hockey, you see a lot more individual play, then, as they get older, it becomes much more about structure and team play over time.”
Tagoona said successful teams at just about every level often share two things in common: the players work hard every shift and individual accolades take a backseat to team accomplishments.
He said at the senior level, he’s really there more for support than anything else.
“When you look at both the Karetakers and Falcons rosters, we have a lot of team leadership in players like my son, Roger (Tagoona) and Pujjuut Kusugak, among others, who really hold themselves accountable.
“You see a lot of communication taking place among the players throughout the whole game.
“And there’s an awful lot of experience on the two teams. When you look at the levels some of these guys have played at – one defenceman we picked up for the Kenora tournament played in the East Coast Hockey League – including Junior A, AAA midget and minor pro, it’s pretty impressive. This is all incredibly competitive hockey.
“But, again, at the senior level, I’m there for moral support rather than actively coaching them.”
Even casual hockey fans realize things can get heated on the ice, especially during high-level tournaments.
Tagoona said there are times when a game gets intense, he will try to be a calming influence on the players.
With senior men, he said special teams like the power play and penalty-kill units are predetermined before the game, which often means emotions can play a pivotal role in a game’s outcome.
“I managed the Nunavut team we sent to the 2023 National Aboriginal Hockey Championships in Winnipeg — which is an U18 bantam/midget age group – and giving players that kind of opportunity to compete at a national level is very important to their continued development.
“My son, Roger, Graham (Bubsy) Kusugak and Terrance McLean of Baker Lake were the coaches. There’s a lot of hockey knowledge here that’s continuing to evolve over time.
“There’s a lot more knowledge in these young coaches now than when I was growing up in Baker Lake with no arena and watching Hockey Night in Canada on TV. They’re passing that knowledge on to the next generation, which is great for our hockey programs.”