The Yukon Amateur Hockey Association held its first round of tryouts for the Arctic Winter Games bantam hockey team on Monday night.

The tryout saw a large group of young hockey hopefuls come out attempting to make the team that will head to Grande Prairie in March.

From the group that turned out to the Canada Games Centre last night, coaches and evaluators will whittle down the group to 15 players, two goalies and three alternates.

Last night was the first of three rounds of tryouts the successful bantam players will have to survive.

The final team will be announced on Jan. 31 for the bantam, midget and girls team.

Prospective Bantam players will meet again in January, from the 8th to the 10th.

Trials run on Friday the 8th from 8:20 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. On Saturday they go from 2 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. and Sunday they finish up from 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. The final round of selection will be done on Jan. 16 at the Canada Games Centre in the Northwestel arena from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Midget players will begin their tryouts on Wednesday from 7 to 8 p.m. at Takhini Arena. The trials continue from Jan. 8-10. On Friday, Jan. 8 they run from 5:30 p.m. to 6:40 p.m., Saturday from 4 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.

The final tryout will be on Jan. 13 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Takhini Arena.

The Arctic Winter Games girls team will be chosen the weekend of Jan. 8 to 10.

Tryouts begin on Friday the 8th from 6:55 p.m. to 8:05 p.m., Saturday from 12 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. and conclude Sunday from 9 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.

Prospective players must attend at least one trial. The cost of attending is $35 for all players, with an additional fee of $50 for those that are uninsured.

Female players must be born between 1990 and 1998 to participate. Bantam players are those born between 1995 and 1996 and midget players must have been born between 1992 and 1994.

The evaluation team is made up of two coaches from the Arctic Winter Games coaching staff and two other evaluators.

Selection of the female athletes began in October, but will conclude in January with the final round.

At Monday night's trials, the bantam players worked on drills with the coaches. The players were eager to show their stuff, indicating a hard job ahead for the evaluation staff.

At the 2008 Arctic Winter Games held in Yellowknife, the bantam Team Yukon made it to the gold medal game, where they were out scored by Northern Alberta 6-3, to finish with a silver medal.

The midget team also won a silver medal, after losing to Team Alaska in the final 3-2.

The female team finished fourth overall, making it to the bronze medal game, but unfortunately they were pushed to fourth place by a 6-1 loss to Northern Alberta.