The Yukon Pee Wee Championship hosted by Watson Lake last weekend was a huge success and a lot of fun.

Fort Nelson was definitely the dominate team throughout the tournament. They won every game by a pretty big spread. This was the first time that they have attended one of our tournaments. It is nice to start building on that relationship as they struggle with the same thing that we do here in Watson Lake, lack of games due to location and travel distances.

Scotiabank also put on a great show. They went undefeated in the round robin tournament and went all the way for silver medals.

There were eight teams registered. The tournament standings were:

1st- Fort Nelson
2nd- Scotiabank (Whitehorse)
3rd- Sports Experts (Whitehorse)
4th- Northern Lights Optometry (Whitehorse)
5th- P & M Recycling (Whitehorse)
6th- Dawson City
7th- Dease Lake
8th- Watson Lake

This was one of our biggest tournaments yet. We had some players from Haines Junction join with other teams and a goalie from Whitehorse, Max, who helped out and played for a few Whitehorse teams as well as for Dease Lake, who did not have a goalie. There were probably around 125 players all together. There were some very intense, close games throughout the weekend and lots of people cheering in the crowd.

We started with a few games on Friday and played straight through until 4 p.m. on Sunday. Everyone played hard and you could see the exhaustion on most of their faces by the end of the weekend. The tournament was a two-pool round robin so everyone got a lot of ice time. We held a Saturday night, lasagna dinner banquet. I would say that we fed at least 200 people (players, families and coaches).

All of the players showed great sportsmanship and respect for the organizers, volunteers, other teams and referees throughout the weekend. It is always a pleasure to host these events. It is a great opportunity to showcase our beautiful facilities in Watson Lake and to put on a good time for the youth.

Our kids were exhausted, but were always smiling. They did Watson Lake proud and played their hearts out.

Our recreation centre concession was run by our Johnson Elementary School staff, students and parents as a fundraiser for a few different school initiatives. They also worked their butts off and provided everyone with great food and smiles all weekend long.

We had three junior referees come down from Whitehorse to officiate the tournament. I cannot say enough wonderful things about these guys. They worked so hard. They officiated all 19 games without any hesitation. A huge shout out to them for helping us out with this. We have limited certified referees in the community so their help was greatly appreciated.

The tournament could not have happened without our great group of volunteers. We have a strong minor hockey board and tons of parents who give help where needed. A big thank you to everyone who helped out and who came out to support our Pee Wees.

Report of Yukon Pee Wee Championship provided by Tiffany Lund, one of the principal organizers of the championship tournament.