Charles Dagostin is revelling in his first major hockey championship with the Kimberley Dynamiters.

The 20-year-old Dawson City native and his teammates won the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) title in six games over the Kamloops Storm.

The Dynamiters clinched the championship with a 5-1 win Mar. 29.

“This was my first-ever league championship, so it was a pretty exciting moment for me,” Dagostin told the Star. “It was a surreal feeling.

“We had a really good year. We started off by going 6-0 in the first month, then hit a rough spot where we were a little over .500.

“Then we came back and didn’t lose a game in regulation in 2015. Everyone really came together in the second part of the year and the playoffs.”

Dagostin, a second-year defenceman, recorded two assists in 18 playoff games after a notching three assists in 45 regular season games.

He was a big-body presence on the back end, killing penalties in a leadership role.

The KIJHL championship was the first won by Kimberley since 1980.

The Dynamiters knocked off the Creston Valley Thundercats, Ferne Ghostriders, Beaver Valley Nitehawks in best-of-seven series before meeting the Storm in the final.

The title win earned the Dynamiters a berth in the Cyclone Taylor Cup, where they finished second in the provincial Junior B championship, losing the final 6-5 to the Campbell River Storm.

The Yukoner said it was his team’s heart that led to their success.

“That was a defining factor for us,” he said. “Everyone was sacrificing and making plays that needed to be made. There wasn’t anyone pulling the rope in the opposite direction.”

The eldest son of Ray Dagostin and Marjorie Logue will return to the Klondike this summer.

Dagostin wasn’t the only Yukon hockey player vying for a league title this season.

Brett Roulston’s Nanaimo Clippers came agonizingly close to a Junior A crown, dropping the final series of the British Columbia Hockey League to the Fred Page Cup-winning Penticton Vees in six games.

The Vees eliminated the Clippers with a 3-2 overtime win Apr. 17. Roulston scored the goal to force overtime.

The local right-winger finished tied for the team lead in playoff scoring with seven goals and 10 assists in 23 games, and went on to win the Clippers’ coach’s award Saturday night.

Meanwhile, Craig Berube of the Notre Dame Hounds just missed out on a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League title, after his Junior A team was swept 4-0 by the Melfort Mustangs, who won the Canalta Cup.

The Mustangs shut out the Hounds 4-0 in Game 4 Apr. 16 to earn a berth in the Western Canada Cup.

Berube recorded one goal and 30 penalty minutes during the Hounds’ 17-game playoff run after recording two goals and four assists in 44 regular season games.

In professional hockey, the Mississippi RiverKings were swept from the Southern Professional Hockey League finals by the Knoxville Ice Bears Apr. 18.

Knoxville beat the RiverKings 4-2 in Game 2 to win the best-of-three series and earn the President’s Cup.

Haines Junction’s Reid Campbell played 45 regular season games for the RiverKings, scoring two goals and adding nine assists, to go with a plus-nine rating.