麻豆社区

The second annual Air North Hockey Challenge will take place simultaneously in Whitehorse and Yellowknife this weekend.

The two northern capitals will be the sites of furious hockey action between the Whitehorse Mustangs and the Yellowknife Wolfpack.

The two organizations will renew their rivalries after Yellowknife won the inaugural challenge last season with a combined team record of nine wins, eight losses.

鈥淟ast year, when we tallied up the total number of wins and losses, Yellowknife won in a shootout,鈥� said Whitehorse Minor Hockey Association president Carl Burgess.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e in the same situation as us and they鈥檙e a good match. They鈥檙e definitely an equivalent association.鈥�

Eight teams participated in last year鈥檚 event hosted in both cities, but this year, that number will swell to 12.

The midget, peewee and female Mustangs teams will host their rivals in the Yukon capital, while the bantam, atom and novice squads will hit the road to Yellowknife for the three-day tournament.

Each division will play four head-to-head games, with the winning association taking home 鈥渢he hardware of pride,鈥濃�圔urgess said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 northern hockey,鈥� added Yellowknife Minor Hockey Association president Steve Thompson. 鈥淚t allows us to see how the other associations in the North are developing. (Whitehorse) is an association that faces the same challenges that we face.鈥�

The Wolfpack play the bulk of their out-of-territory tournaments in the Edmonton area, he said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a great opportunity,鈥濃�圱hompson said of the annual hockey challenge. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more of an exciting thing than competitive. We want to show them what Yellowknife has to offer.

鈥淭he kids are really looking forward to it.鈥�

Air North is helping out 鈥渁 great deal鈥� to make this tournament a reality, said Burgess.

The two associations鈥� relationship is expected to expand to two tournaments a year, he added.

鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to do it twice a year so each team visits their counterpart once,鈥� said Burgess. 鈥淲hen we look at the hockey development side of it, both teams are getting eight competitive games at an incredibly low price.

鈥淥ne of the key things for the development program through the year is to try and make 30-plus competitive games a year before their end-of-year championships or provincials.鈥�

Meanwhile, seven teams have confirmed their attendance for a bantam and peewee tournament set to take place in Whitehorse over the Remembrance Day weekend.