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Jordyn Machmer is going to spend the next year away from her home in Pangnirtung, Nunavut.
It’s a big transition for the 14-year-old.
“I think I can get through it because I’ll be playing this sport I love,” she said. “And I’ll make new friends.”
Machmer headed south in mid-July with the hope of finding a competitive girls hockey team in Ontario to play for. She landed a spot this past week with a U15 AA hockey team called the Scarborough Sharks, in the Toronto area, after taking part in a showcase event put on by the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL).
David Kilabuk, Machmer’s dad, was still in Ontario on Wednesday helping his daughter get settled. She’ll be staying with a friend of the family who used to be a teacher in Pangnirtung.
“It’s something she’s always wanted to do, to come down south to play hockey,” said Kilabuk.
But it took Kilabuk and Machmer’s mom, Sheena, some time to get on board with the idea.
“In the spring I kind of told her we might as well wait another year …. I’ll feel a lot better if you went down south a year older,” he explained. “She kept saying she had to go somewhere, she needs to play competitive hockey. She kind of talked me and her mom into it.”
Machmer has been playing hockey since she was little. At age 11, she played for Team Nunavut’s U20 female hockey team at the Arctic Winter Games.
Now, she’ll be the only girl from Nunavut on her new team. Her father said there are about a dozen or so girls from Nunavut playing hockey in Ontario.
“She just works so hard,” said Kilabuk. “She’s pretty determined, and I think that kind of sets her apart.”
Machmer said the year ahead will be a busy one – with 70 hockey games, including eight tournaments. She hasn’t played that much hockey before.
It’ll also be the longest she’s ever been away from home.
Pangnirtung, a community of fewer than 1,500 on Baffin Island, doesn’t have artificial ice. Kilabuk builds her an outdoor rink to practise on, until the ice forms in the community’s arena in January.
While Machmer prepares herself for the year ahead, Kilabuk is checking things off his worry list before heading back to Pangnirtung. One of those items? Getting his daughter registered for high school.
“As soon as we’re done with that, I’ll be a lot more comfortable having you down here,” he told his daughter. “There’s still a few things on my worry list. But yeah, we’re getting there.”
At the suggestion of her father’s concern, Machmer rolled her eyes amicably and turned to reassure him.
“I’ll be fine.”
