Rankin Inlet hockey player Roger Tagoona signs professional tryout contract

Hockey player Roger Tagoona, from Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, has signed a professional tryout contract.

The Port Huron Prowlers, a new team in the minor professional Federal Hockey League, which contains teams in the northeast and midwest United States, announced the signing last week. The Prowlers are based in Port Huron, Michigan.

Tagoona, 23, joins the Prowlers after spending the last two seasons in Ohio with the Dayton Demonz, which folded prior to the 2015/2016 season.

He left home when he was 15 years old for his first hockey tryouts, and he says he's excited for this new journey.

"You know I miss my family and I miss Rankin and home, but I also get to experience a lot of things that I've wanted to do with my whole life," Tagoona says.

"I've travelled around and I've had the luck of being with some really good guys and being on some really good teams and definitely the hockey teams and the atmosphere around it makes it a lot easier being away from home."

In 84 games played over his two seasons in Dayton, Tagoona recorded 37 goals, 39 assists and 222 penalty minutes, with a plus-45 rating. The Demonz won the league championship Commissioner's Cup in 2013/2014, his first season with the team.

Before joining the Demonz, Tagoona spent four seasons playing in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

He's following in the footsteps of another well-known hockey player from Rankin Inlet: Jordin Tootoo, who plays for the NHL's New Jersey Devils.