Two goals, along with 46 shots on net wasn't enough for the Yukon's Midgets Male hockey team in Friday's gold medal game against Alaska at the Arctic Winter Games.

The team lost a close 3-2 decision after Alaska netted its third goal at the halfway point of the final period of the game.

"The accomplishment was great," said coach Dale Kulych. "We set out to win the gold, but based on the performance our boys put in throughout the week, all and all they did very well and I am very proud of the boys. Overall we played well."

The defeat to Alaska was the only loss Team Yukon suffered throughout the week-long competition.

Team Yukon's first contest at the Arctic Winter Games was against the N.W.T. on Monday. After a scoreless first period the boys started to come together as a group and were able to take advantage of the power play in the final two frames. Team Yukon scored an impressive seven goals in its opening contest and limited the N.W.T. to just one goal.

Coming into Tuesday, Nunavut was also undefeated, having beaten Alaska the previous day by a score of 5-2. Nunavut scored the opening goal, but it didn't take the Yukon boys long to respond, notching a goal shortly afterwards on the power play.

Team Yukon scored another power play goal to go up 2-1 and with the score 3-2 heading into the third, the Yukoners added another goal for insurance in the victory.

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 team's 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 nearing the end of the second period.

The N.W.T. tightened the game back up 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 first 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 had played great defence and shut down the N.W.T.'s offensive attacks, winning the game by a score of 2-1.

The final against Alaska featured end-to-end action for practically the entire duration of the game. Alaska applied a lot of pressure early on in the contest and was able to score the first goal at the two minute mark of the opening period.

Alaska added to its lead in the final few minutes of the second to make the score 2-0. Team Yukon rallied in the second, notching a goal of their own off a point shot that found the top corner of the net with 1:03 remaining.

In the final period, Alaska once again restored its two goal advantage, notching the team's third goal of the contest. It didn't take the Yukon boys long to respond and the team scored with just 7:20 remaining on the clock.

The goal was put in after another point shot, which was deflected and then quickly put up into the net to make the score 3-2.

This was as close as the Yukon boys would get though and despite a valiant effort they were unable to tie it up. Yukon player Kane Dawe was named tournament MVP in the loss.

Kulych said there was a big difference between the Alaskan team they faced in the round robin and the one they played in the final.

"You could see they had the skating abilities, they had some big defence and they did meld together at the end of the week and they melded together at the right time," he said. "So there was a big difference from seeing them in the round robin to seeing them in the final round."

He said his team played just as well as they did in the round robin, but they just didn't get the bounces.

"When you get 46 shots on a goalie you know that you are doing your job, so that is the way the puck bounces and you are going to run into games like that," Kulych said. "I think our boys played very well and they demonstrated they have the ability to play at a real competitive level."

Kulych said despite not winning the gold, the tournament was still a success.

"Anytime you can get experience and play at that level, the boys are all better for it," he said. "It has been a great learning experience for everybody."

The team is currently taking part in the provincials and Kulych thinks they are better prepared for this next challenge after taking part in the Arctic Winter Games competition.

"We have a week under our belt going into the provincials and I am hoping it will pay dividends through what we are going to see happening with the boys over the next five days," he said. "Hopefully we will come out of here with gold. Again that is our target."

In other Arctic Winter Games hockey results, the Yukon's Bantam males lost 6-3 in the final to Northern Alberta to win the silver.

The Bantams finished the round robin with a 1-0-3 record and beat the N.W.T. by a score of 5-2 to qualify for the gold medal game.

The Yukon's junior female hockey team also did very well, finishing the round robin with a record of 1-3, which qualified the team for the semi-finals.

The girls' team ended up placing fourth at the Games.