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The Kivalliq Canucks U20 team has been forced to withdraw from the inaugural National Indigenous U20 Championship in Toronto, Ont., from June 9 to 13.

Team general manager Gleason Uppahuak of Arviat said there were too many obstacles to attending the tourney that hit the Junior Canucks all at the same time.

He said the majority of his players have exams that week and he can't risk doing any harm to their education.

鈥�A lot of the players still have three or four years left to attend the nationals, so we'll come back stronger next year,鈥� said Uppahuak.

鈥�Funding from the Kivalliq Inuit Association also turned into a problem. They never responded in time.

鈥�That trip would have cost us close to $70,000 and that was with me asking the players to get to Winnipeg on their own and I was going to look after the Winnipeg-to-Toronto portion of the trip.

鈥�The players were heartbroken over the news. They were really looking forward to competing at the very first National Indigenous U20 Championship.鈥�

Uppahuak said he was affected almost as badly as the players because he wanted to see them have a really good life experience during the trip.

He said the organizers were expecting the Kivalliq squad and were disappointed with the news that they wouldn't be attending.

鈥�We both said we'd be better prepared next year, so that we won't interfere with any of our players' exams.

鈥�The players and the parents started reaching out to me about two weeks ago about their exams. None of the schools or college involved would move their exams to accommodate the tournament.

鈥�The organizers couldn't help either because the ice bookings for the rink there are done a year ahead.

鈥�I'm very confident the tournament will still be on the go next year and we'll be there to compete. I have a year now to get everything arranged and I'm very confident we'll be ready to go next summer.鈥�