Yukon’s Arctic Games midget male hockey team to play for gold tonight

The final score may have been a lot closer than the players on the Yukon's midget male hockey team would have preferred in their semi-final matchup against the Northwest Territories, but the end result was the same. Another victory.

The final score may have been a lot closer than the players on the Yukon’s midget male hockey team would have preferred in their semi-final matchup against the Northwest Territories, but the end result was the same. Another victory.
 
The team is undefeated at this year’s Arctic Winter Games (AWG) and will play Alaska in the gold medal game tonight at 7 p.m. (local time).
 
“This would probably be one of the better games that we had thus far and it was the toughest,“ said coach Dale Kulych. “After the first couple of games we were the team to beat, so we put a little bit more pressure ourselves and again when you put that sort of pressure on, you have to step up and the boys have done that.“
 
Team Yukon finished the round robin with an impressive 3-0-0 record. The team beat the N.W.T. 7-1 in its first game and followed that by winning against Nunavut 4-2.
 
The Yukon midgets’ final game of the round robin was against Alaska on Wednesday. The team continued its offensive dominance at the tournament, scoring six goals and limiting Alaska to just one in the victory.
 
After a scoreless first period in the hard-hitting semi-final affair with the N.W.T., the Yukon midgets’ finally were able to get on the board, scoring a power play goal early on in the second frame.
 
The team added to the lead not long after that, scoring their second goal of the contest in the last ten minutes of the second period.
 
The N.W.T. came back with a goal of its own just a couple of minutes after Team Yukon had given itself the two-goal lead. The final score at the conclusion of the second period was 2-1.
 
A five-on-three power play for the N.W.T. with around eight minutes to go in the game highlighted the third period, but the Yukon midgets’ killed it off. Team Yukon played great defence and shut-down the N.W.T. for the final 20 minutes of the contest.
 
Kulych said he is pleased with the team’s performance in the tournament.
 
“The boys have done a great job,“ he said. “I am very proud of them.“
 
He said he expects a tough game in the final against Alaska.
 
“My expectations are the boys play up to their potential and give it everything they can,“ Kulych said. “It is the final game and this is what we have been working for and striving to achieve all season. I think the young fellows realize that. These are young men and they can see the benefits, they can see the carrot at the end.“
 
Kulych said winning the gold medal would be a definite highlight on the season and believes in order for the team to do that they must play with both desire and drive.
 
“So far they have been putting both of those together in one way, shape or form over the last four games,“ he said. “We have played four good games, we haven’t played that great game yet and hopefully that will come (tonight) and the boys will shine.“
 
In other hockey news, the Yukon’s bantam male team will also play for gold against Northern Alberta after beating the N.W.T. in the semi-finals by a score of 5-2.