New intermediate bracket starts today
Tournament reserved for 18-to-23 year old players, also makes end of A bracket
The Juneau Lions Club Gold Medal Tournament's new four-team intermediate bracket tips off today, and tournament officials hope it adds a wave of new energy to the 60-year competition.
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The division is restricted to men age 18 to 23. High school seniors can play, as long as they've completed their high school eligibility. Players are ineligible for the I bracket once they've competed for a team in the Mighty B draw.
Kake will play Hoonah at 11:30 a.m. today. Angoon will meet Yakutat, a late substitution for Hydaburg, at 2:30. The I bracket championship game is schedule for 4 p.m. Saturday.
"We have what's called the B bracket right now, and there are 12 players on those teams," said state Sen. Albert Kookesh, tournament chairman and one of the lead instigators in creating the I division. "Some of the young guys, 18 to 23, can't make it into the B lineups. Those lineups are together for five, six years, and those young guys have to sit on the bench until somebody gets hurt or moves to the C bracket. The intermediate bracket gives a chance to those kids. It keeps those guys playing and interested, and maybe they'll go into the B bracket when those B guys go into the C bracket."
The addition of the intermediate division means this will be the first tournament in history with no A bracket. Since the AA bracket was dissolved after 1982, the A bracket has been reserved for large communities with active city leagues. Towns and villages without city leagues play in the Mighty B, and old-timers play in the Legendary C.
The A had traditionally hosted teams from Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan and on occasion, Tacoma, Wash. The B and C bracket has always been more popular, Kookesh said.
In the 2004 and 2005 tournaments, the A draws included three teams from Juneau and one from Sitka.
"When we got teams from Fairbanks, Anchorage, Sitka and Ketchikan, it made a lot of sense to continue," Kookesh said. "When you start getting down to three teams in Juneau and one team from Sitka, it didn't make any sense.
"You have to remember the audience here," he said. "The audience is not Juneau people. The audience is village people. When you go to the gym you'll see a lot of brown faces in that gym, and the reason why they didn't support the A bracket is we didn't have Native kids playing on the A bracket teams. Pardon the expression, they were all white. You'd have Native people sitting in the stands, and then white teams came on the court to play, and they'd leave to go eat. The gym would be empty."
The All-Native International Tournament in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, has had a successful intermediate division for years. Hydaburg won the intermediate and senior division championships this February.
It remains to be seen how competitive the I bracket will be and what effect it will have on the B teams.
"At this point, it's hindered some of the B bracket teams," said Ed Hotch, tournament invitation chair. "They end up being short a player. These (young) guys have their own squad now, and so we have to mix and match. That's making it rough for a few of the B teams."
• Korry Keeker can be reached at korry.keeker@juneauempire.com