2024 Arctic Winter Games Highlights: Frenzied Futsal Semifinals at Palmer High School
By Mike Degen and Manny Melendez
This article was written at this event on March 14 for the 2024 Arctic Winter Games. All photos were taken by Manny Melendez.
What a day for futsal fans!
The afternoon semifinal match between the Yukon and Alaska teams was a heated showdown! Yukon came into the game as a number one seed after winning all three matches in the group stage. They took the early lead and held it the entire way to a 3-1 victory. However, it cannot be understated how fiery and determined Alaska was, especially during the second half when, after more than a few nail-biting missed goals, a couple of Alaska’s players exhibited questionable sportsmanship, actively shoving Yukon players out of their way, costing them at least one foul during the second half.
It was a chippy game the whole way through, and it must be said: some questionable calls were made concerning the heated nature of some of the interactions between Alaska and Yukon on the court. One of Yukon’s players stopped in his tracks after being shoved into the bleachers and shouted, “Calm down!” to the player on Alaska’s team that had pushed him.
All’s well that ends, however, once the game comes to a close. Members of both teams could be seen shaking hands and having a brief chat as they exited the court.
Right after, in the highly anticipated second semifinal, second-seeded Team Northwest Territories squared off against third-seeded Team Nunavut. It was a rematch of Monday’s exciting 10-7 victory by Team NT. The game started evenly matched, and Team Nunavut’s fans made their presence known with horns, shouts, and claps.
Leo Whittaker of Team Yukon leads all players in the competition with 13 goals. Team NT has the second leading scorer of the competition, Stephen Moore, with seven goals. The third leading scorer, Emmanuel Johan Tanoh, headed Team Nunavut’s attack. Roald Peters opened the scoring, highlighting Team NT’s laser-focused attention to the game’s stakes, further compounded by Ronit Bhanot striking a second goal before Team Nunavut pulled one back shortly after, igniting the crowd.
Tanoh equalized the score minutes later. Bhanot eventually scored a second to take a 3-2 lead. A minute later, Peters hit the woodwork. Tanoh wasted no time responding by adding his second goal before the end of an exciting first half that did not disappoint.
Thirteen seconds into the second half, Nunavut took the lead. Stephen Moore was emphatic in his response, evening the score! Both teams refused to play defense. A costly mistake by Nunavut led to a fifth goal for Team NT. Nunavut tied a minute later to the continued roars from the crowd, who maintained tremendous energy and excitement during the match.
The game slowed in the final ten minutes, with neither side able to find a winner, sending them into overtime. Early into the second overtime period, Nunavut found a golden goal in a deadly counterattack, which sent them into the final against undefeated Yukon, the heavy favorite.