麻豆社区

The Yukon will be represented this week by three teams at the Canadian soccer club championships.

The Yukon Selects Soccer Club is sending teams to the men鈥檚, U15 boy鈥檚 and U15 girl鈥檚 tournament.

The girls U15 squad began play at 12:30 local time in Calgary today against Ontario鈥檚 representative from London. The boys U15 team, also in Calgary, was scheduled to kick off the tournament at 3 p.m. against an old rival, Mountain United from Vancouver鈥檚 North Shore.

The men are in Vancouver and will be facing Manitoba in their first game Thursday.

U15 girls coach Arnold Hedstrom explained in an interview Tuesday afternoon preparing to play the best team in Ontario out of 100s, perhaps thousands, requires an understanding of who you are facing.

It鈥檚 difficult to start a national championship against the biggest provinces, he said.

He said his squad has prepared physically. They understand the technical aspects of the game and they鈥檝e worked hard to make sure their defence is the sharpest.

Their goal heading into today鈥檚 game was to take the game in five-minute chunks, to keep Ontario off the score board five minutes at a time.

鈥淭hat is my goal in our game, to keep them off the score board as long as possible,鈥� he said. 鈥淎lso, to tell them you have to be in the moment. You have to forget the last one minute, the last five minutes. It鈥檚 the next five minutes that is important.鈥�

Hedstrom said half a dozen or more of the team members experienced the national stage at the Canada Summer Games in August.

鈥淭hey know what they鈥檙e up against,鈥� he said of his Selects. 鈥淭hey are prepared for it. They are glad to be here.鈥�

Coach Ash Jordan of the U15 boys team said their first game this afternoon is against an old rival that they鈥檝e had mixed success against.

Mountain United is a strong, strong team with a bunch of strong lads who are fast, he said.

Jordan said it鈥檚 always tough playing against clubs who鈥檝e spent the season playing in high performance leagues, as has Mountain United, the B.C. U15 club champion.

But the Selects have matched up well against them in previous years, and they know how train for them and get themselves ready, he said.

And the local boys will be seeing a familiar face when they take to the pitch this afternoon, only he鈥檒l be wearing a Mountain United jersey.

Ole Heath is a Haines Junction boy who played goalkeep with the Whitehorse squad for the last few years, including in the nationals last year. But he鈥檚 moved to B.C. and is sharing time in the net with you know who?

Whether Heath will start this afternoon against his former teammates is unknown.

But the local lads are ready.

鈥淲e know him,鈥� said Jordan. 鈥淎ll the boys grew up with him. We know his style, it鈥檚 a little rivalry.

鈥淲ith all respect to the kid, he is a great kid and he deserves to be where he is, that is for sure.鈥�

Men鈥檚 coach Jake Hanson said this morning from Vancouver they鈥檝e got a bye today so they鈥檒l have a chance to watch the games between the other four teams in their group 鈥� Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick and Ontario.

Just like the U15 squads, the men also lack the game time the other teams will most certainly bring to the pitch, he said.

But, said Hanson, you never know who the team to beat is.

Smaller provinces have won the national championship, teams like Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan, so you never know, he said.

Hanson said the players on his Selects range in age from 19 to 38, with the exception of one F.H. Collins Grade 12 student, Tyler Milton, the youngest player ever to represent the territory on a men鈥檚 team.

The teams they鈥檒l face will likely have a more concentrated age group, probably between 20 and 30, he said.

鈥淲e haven鈥檛 had a lot of team time together but we have lots of guys with experience, college, university, Canada Games,鈥� said the coach. 鈥淲e have lots of experience, so it will be just a matter of coming together as a team.鈥�