麻豆社区

The Spectrum Security Bears won their second straight Yukon鈥圔roomball Association championship with a dominating performance Saturday.

The Bears beat Nacho Nyak Dun DC 6-0 to repeat as Kopper King Cup champions.

Last season, the club shut out Capital Towing 4-0 to win the rec league championship.

Blayne Epp led the way Saturday with two goals, while Ryan Martin, Lars Jessup, Justin Saunders and Josh Hirsch added singles in the win.

Bears netminder Chris Sawyer earned the shutout.

The win marked the latest notch in the victory belt for a team that hasn't lost much over the past two years.

Nacho Nyak Dun won the Bob Park opening tournament this year to interrupt the Bears' long winning streak.

However, the Bears rebounded to win the season and the playoffs in fine fashion, including earning a berth in the final via a 2-1 overtime win over the Roadhouse.

"It's been a great season,鈥� Bears' assistant captain and manager Shayne Fairman admitted to the Star post-game.

"Last year, we ran the table and won the opening tournament, the season, the league and the Junction.

"This year, we lost the opening tournament and then we went on to win the season and the tournament. The Junction's next weekend, so we'll see what happens there.鈥�

Despite their wins, Fairman said the league proved to be much more competitive in its 30th season, with two new teams and plenty of new faces hitting the ice.

"Most of the games throughout the year were really close,鈥� he said. "It's been a very balanced year for the whole league.鈥�

Nacho Nyak Dun also needed overtime to get into the championship final, defeating a hard-luck Roadhouse team 2-1 earlier Saturday.

Saturday's final marked Nacho Nyak Dun's third game of the day.

"We had to come through the B side,鈥� said captain Chris Saunders. "We had a short bench and were a little tired ... We were pretty good for the first half of the game, and just basically ran out of gas in the second half and it kind of got away on us.鈥�

Nacho Nyak Dun dropped their first game of the playoffs 5-3 to Roadhouse last Sunday, and were forced to play six games versus the Bears' four.

"The crew did really well,鈥濃�圫aunders said. "Even though we had a short bench, everybody did really well together.鈥�

The local broomball association is celebrating 30 years this season, and the board worked hard to promote the sport throughout the year.

"This year was really spectacular,鈥� said board president Milford Allain.

"Our rookies were up 42 people. That's an increase of 30 per cent in our league... It just shows the enthusiasm for our league this year. The level of play went up a couple of notches for sure this year.鈥�

Allain said the infusion of new players has him excited for things to come.

"It shows good growth,鈥� he said. "For further down the road, it gives me more enthusiasm to expand the league more.

It makes us want to go outside of Whitehorse and Yukon more.

"I鈥坱hink next year, we'll probably start a youth league and hopefully get that program up to the national level. So future development is really positive right now.鈥�

The Yukon broomball season will wrap up this weekend with the Function in the Junction tournament in Haines Junction.

An awards banquet followed the action Saturday.

Dental Donkeys standout Scott King was the big winner, taking home league MVP honours, and male rookie of the year. Sandra Bietz was named female MVP.

Top scorers were Justin Saunders (male) and Mary Wintemute (female), while top goalies were Aedan Greer (lowest GAA) and Jamie Kenyon (players' choice).

Top defenders were Chris Saunders (male) and Sheena Laluk (female). Brittany Yuill was named the top female rookie.

Other awards included Levi Larkin and Violetta Azizaj (most improved), while John Tom Tom received a sportsmanship award.