Gavin McKenna and the Yukon male hockey team are on fire at the 2023 Canada Winter Games in P.E.I.

McKenna scored six goals in a 11-6 victory over Nunavut Monday morning. Jase Johnstone netted two, while Nash Holmes, Kaelan Basnett, and Chayce Tuton added singles.

McKenna followed that up with a virtuoso performance against N.W.T. Monday evening, tallying eight points on two goals and six assists. McKenna was particularly sharp while setting up the fifth goal by AJ Boyd in the slot on a pass from beside the net. McKenna followed that up with two straight beauty passes to Chayce Tuton in front of the N.W.T. net that resulted in two powerplay goals in the third period. In fact, Yukon ended the game with four straight powerplay goals, three of them by Tuton. Jase Johnstone tallied two goals and three assists in the game.

The boys’ team came up with another victory this morning, 5-3 over P.E.I. McKenna scored a natural hat trick (three goals in a row) and added an assist. Chayce Tuton and Nash Holmes added singles for the Yukon.

Next up for the team is a first-place showdown tonight with Newfoundland-Labrador, who are also 3-0 in the tournament.

Meanwhile, according to a Team Yukon press release, a heavy downpour hit the Games yesterday. In Biathlon, Cheyenne Tirschmann finished sixth in the 6 Km Female Sprint. Lydia Brown was 16th, Isla Hupé 17th, and Stella Mueller 22nd.

In the 7.5 Km Male Sprint, Cole Germain was the top Yukoner in seventh. Bruce Porter was 27th and Matthew London finished 29th.

Speed skaters Lisa Freeman and Lucas Taggart-Cox competed in the 500 m and 1500 m preliminary races to begin their Games. In the 500 m event, Freeman placed third and then fourth in her two races and Taggart-Cox third in both of his races. In the 1500, Freeman placed fifth in her heat and Taggart-Cox third, followed by sixth.

The curling team had a tough draw against Nova Scotia, losing 10-3.

The Yukoners had a tough time reading the ice in the opening ends but finished strong, scoring two in the sixth end with some nice draws by skip Taylor Legge. The team gets a deserved break today after playing three games in two days.

The men’s and women’s table tennis doubles wrapped up. Krish Sharma and Victor Li lost to N.W.T. 3-1 and placed 12th and Melody Qiu and Kalie Bennett dropped their lone doubles game of the day to New Brunswick 3-0 and finished 11th overall.

In Team Female competition Monday evening, Qui and Bennett defeated N.W.T. 3-2.

In Team Male, Sharma and Li had a tougher time, dropping matches to N.W.T., 3-1, and a closer one to Nunavut, 3-2.

Freestyle skiing got their practice time in, but the heavy rains put the kibosh on the slopestyle event.

Both slopestyle and big air are being contested today.