Photo by Marissa Tiel
SCRAMBLE – Yukon U-16 Mustangs battle with Yellowknife U-18 Wolf-Pack skaters in front of the Wolfpack net during Midget hockey action Sunday morning at Takhini Arena. The Mustangs hosted the Wolf-Pack for three games this weekend in a major hockey showcase that also saw Prince George’s Cariboo Cougars host the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs in Major Midget action and the Whitehorse Huskies host the Bonnyville Sr. Pontiacs in senior AA hockey action.
Photo by Vince Fedoroff
HARD HIT – Vancouver Chiefs’ Christian Ryvern is pushed into the boards during Major Midget hockey action between the Chiefs and the Cariboo Cougars in Whitehorse last weekend. The Cougars won all three games of the series.
By early Sunday morning, the fatigue had marched in and set up camp.
By early Sunday morning, the fatigue had marched in and set up camp.
With two high-intensity games already under their belts, the U-16 Midget Yukon Mustangs suited up for their final game against the Yellowknife U-18 Wolfpack. They played hard and swept the three-game series.
As the game was winding down, Major Midget hockey players from the following game were warming up. One Cariboo Cougar skater was in his zone, headphones solidly settled over his ears, deftly taping his hockey stick from the bleachers.
A teammate was horizontal at ice level, foam-rolling ahead of the final game between the Cougars and the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs.
The rest of the Cougars juggled a mini soccer ball in a far corner of the arena, while the Chiefs warmed up in what would later become the beer garden overlooking the ice.
Serendipity is what brought these two Major Midget teams to Whitehorse over the weekend, says Yukon Hockey vice-president Carl Burgess.
“It’s excellent youth hockey and it’s a stepping stone league for players that aspire,” says Burgess.
For a Northern city without a Major Midget team of their own, it was a showcase of fast, full-contact hockey and a league that young Whitehorse players can aspire to join.
There are half a dozen Yukon products currently playing Major Midget hockey in B.C., although not for the Chiefs or the Cougars, says Burgess.
Dylan Cozens, who earlier this year was drafted by the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes, played two games with the Cougars last season.
The Cougars have had other Yukon players on their roster in the past, including current Whitehorse Huskies forward Andrew Pettit, who played 32 games with them in the 2006-07 season before going on to play in the B.C. Hockey League and for the University of Alaska at Anchorage Seawolves.
The weekend was also a chance for B.C. Hockey executives to share their hockey vision and hear from members of the community at town halls on Saturday.
Yukon hockey families were also able to hear about the Major Midget league.
“It was basically three showcases,” said Burgess of the different league matchups. “It’s likely the first of its kind in Whitehorse.”
The Vancouver Northeast Chiefs, who came into the weekend unbeaten, dropped both games of their series to the Cougars, 6-1, 4-2.
The Cougars will host the men’s Major Midget national championships at the end of April in Prince George, B.C.
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