麻豆社区

The Air North Jets won their fourth straight A division title last night, and it ended with fireworks.

Emotions spilled over with 1:43 left in the game, after Jets sniper Evan Campbell poked the eventual game-winner past SLFS/Murphy Built goaltender Benoit Grenier.

Grenier had been agitated all game for what he perceived as crease-crashing by the powerhouse Jets, even delaying the game to have an extended talk with referee Durand Cornett in the second period.

Following Campbell鈥檚 goal 鈥� which gave the Jets a late 4-3 lead en route to a 5-3 win 鈥� linemate Kane Dawe bent down and cheered directly into Grenier鈥檚 mask.

A melee ensued, with SLFS forward Justin Quigley dropping the gloves with Jets blue-liner Drew O鈥機onnor for a rare rec league fight.

After O鈥機onnor jerseyed Quigley, both tossed haymakers before Quigley eventually wrestled O鈥機onnor to the ice giving referee Darrell Pasloski an opening to intervene.

Jets forward Adam Henderson also tussled with SLFS defenceman Christian Brideau at centre ice, while Dawe landed several punches to the face of an unwilling David Schroeder.

It proved to be an explosive end to a tightly played final series in the Whitehorse Rec Hockey League鈥檚 A Division playoffs.

In the first game Tuesday, Air North edged SLFS 7-6 in a shootout at Takhini Arena, with Colin Dendys providing the heroics.

SLFS was leading that game 6-3 midway through the second before the shorthanded Jets mounted their comeback which included two goals from Tanner Kulych.

The Jets had their full roster back for last night鈥檚 game at Canada Games Centre 鈥� including Whitehorse Huskies players Campbell, Dendys, Henderson, Rob Stuckey and the Dawe brothers 鈥� Kane and Kaleb.

After going down 2-0 early in the first period, the Jets mounted their comeback with goals by Kane Dawe, Morris Morrison and then Campbell, who sealed the game by wiring a wrist shot into the empty net to complete a natural hat trick.

SLFS got two goals from Brideau, bookending a Quigley slapshot that beat Rob Young in the first period.

Henderson, 26, said the group appreciates the 鈥渂ragging rights鈥� that go along with successive titles.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e a good team over there,鈥� he told the Star. 鈥淭hey work hard. They forced us to go into a higher gear and start pressing a bit and things finally went our way at the end there.鈥�

As for the late-game dust-ups, Henderson simply said 鈥渂oys will be boys.鈥�

Brideau, 32, said his team showed plenty of heart in their playoff run, and emotions simply boiled over.

鈥淗ockey鈥檚 a tough time to control your aggression,鈥濃�坰aid Brideau. 鈥淵ou need to be aggressive, but also control it. You鈥檙e always on that fine line and sometimes it just takes a little spark and it flips.

鈥淪ometimes it happens.鈥�

Meanwhile, Goody鈥檚 Gas downed Fountain Tire on Sunday to win the league鈥檚 B division title.

Tied 1-1 after the first period, Goody鈥檚 scored six second-period goals en route to a 7-2 win.

Mitch Hutton scored four times in the victory to give his club a second straight victory over Fountain Tire, following a 5-0 win in Game 1.

Last year, Goody鈥檚 lost the B final 5-4 to the CRB鈥圢ighthawks.

While the capital city鈥檚 recreational hockey league has wrapped up play for the year, hockey will continue to be in the spotlight this weekend.

The popular three-day Yukon Native Hockey Tournament 鈥� sponsored this year by Kilrich鈥圔uilding Centres 鈥� features 43 teams in six age divisions.

The opening ceremonies will be held tonight at 6:30 at Takhini Arena.