Players at the 16th Whitehorse Women’s Hockey Jamboree were testing their skills last weekend.

A skills competition took place Saturday morning on the ATCO ice at the Canada Games Centre.

Whitehorse Women’s Hockey Association development director Dana Hodgson, who played on the Ferris Bueller team, ran the skills competition.

“We’re just gonna do some skating forwards and backwards, so just fastest time on that.

“Then shot accuracy with the Shooter Tutor, so just as many shots a person can sink in a minute.

“We’re gonna do a bit of a fun one where they skate from one end of the ice to the other and see who can slide the farthest on their belly and hopefully, if we have a goalie, we’ll do a shootout competition.”

Hodgson was asked what she thought of the jamboree so far.

“I think it’s great, it’s been a bit of an adjustment because this is the first year that we have eight teams instead of the regular four so a lot more players and a lot more ice time so everybody’s just adjusting to that but from what I can see, most people are having a lot of fun.”

Hodgson was also looking forward to the banquet, which took place Saturday evening.

“We’ll get this on the go and the last game’s at six, and then we’ll get to go celebrate hockey.”

A goalie, Brooke McKenzie with the Goonies (Orange) team, did indeed show up and bravely took part in the backwards skating part of the skills competition.

“It was a lot of work with all my equipment. I just played a game before this too.”

McKenzie was asked what she thought of the skills comp.

“I think it’s great, I was actually just thinking to myself that it would be cool to have more goalies come out and do some of the skills next year, too.”

McKenzie was also enjoying the jamboree.

“The tournament has been great, lots of fun, definitely thankful to the organizers for putting this all together. It’s been fabulous so far.”

McKenzie was the lone goalie in the shootout event.

“It’s always a lot of work, but I really enjoy the practice doing that.”

Despite the talented shooters she faced, McKenzie managed to make some spectacular saves.

“A few yeah. There’s some really good shooters in women’s league so I knew I’d be up against some hard stuff.”

The Goonies’ Georgia Musil finished second in the hardest shot competition after a second round was required to declare a winner.

“Technically, I was second but my top shot was 101 (km), the highest today.

“I was very surprised. I didn’t think it was gonna be that high. I was thinking like mid-seventies.”

Musil’s skill and experience showed on the ice.

“I played triple A hockey when I was 17 and I played competitive hockey throughout my teenage years so I’m pretty well versed in all aspects of the sport so yeah, it was a lot of fun.”

When asked what her favourite part of the competition was, Musil replied, “The shooting accuracy or the hardest shot, because that’s my forte.”

Musil, too, was having a lot of fun at the “jambo.”

“The women’s league is very good at setting up the jamboree and getting everybody included. It’s nice throughout the year to be able to break it up and switch up the teams and create a fun experience and create more bonds with other people throughout the league, instead of just staying with the 15 people on your team.”