麻豆社区

The Yukon Lead Dawgs, who were playing in the World Broomball Championships, have returned home from Blaine, Minnesota. The team wrapped up their tournament Friday, having played three games, taking home a bronze medal in the Challenge Cup division.

The team finished with a record of 3-5, finishing sixth in the overall standings.

Ten teams participated in the mixed tournament, and were divided into two divisions based on their record through the round-robin, which is how the Lead Dawgs played for a bronze medal.

鈥淲inning the Challenge Cup is nothing to be ashamed of,鈥� said head coach Scott Smith. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an accomplishment of it鈥檚 own. The team did really well, but there is definitely room for improvement.鈥�

The team started their playoff hunt against the Australia Green - Dingoes, in the quarter final. The Lead Dawgs were able to find their offence, cruising to a 6-0 win. Smith attributes some of the team鈥檚 improvement to the level of competition they played early in the tournament.

鈥淲hen we played the other Australian team it proved to us we could play with anybody,鈥� said Smith. 鈥淥ur first game we played the Broomshak, an elite team from out East (Canada). We didn鈥檛 get blown out by them and held our own. Success cannot all be measured by the scoreboard.鈥�

In the Challenge Cup semi-final the Lead Dawgs squared off against the Regina Weezilz. The team played a hard-fought match, but came up short, falling by a final score of 2-1. With the loss the Lead Dawgs missed the opportunity to play for gold, but still had one game left against the Japan Ice Ducks, a rematch of their first win of the tournament, to see who took home the bronze.

The bronze medal game rivalled the first meeting the team鈥檚 played, which the Lead Dawgs won 2-1. The Lead Dawgs managed to get one past the Japanese keeper taking the bronze by a final score of 1-0.

鈥淚t was a back and forth match,鈥� said Smith. 鈥淥ur goalie stopped a lot of shots. Japan were a feisty bunch, who fought hard and wanted to win. We tended to start flat in most games, so we made it a point to come out aggressive, and managed to get one past their keeper. Everyone put in 100 per cent effort.鈥�

As the team landed back in Whitehorse, there is already talks about what will happen for the next World Broomball Championship, which is held every two years.

鈥淚t certainly created some buzz within the team for the next tournament in two years,鈥� said Smith. 鈥淗opefully for the Yukon Broomball Association (YBA) this will drive the sport in the Yukon. Everyone had a really good time and left feeling fairly upbeat. They would probably all agree that it is a different level here.鈥�

The Lead Dawgs, which Smith says have a lot of young players on the team, will now have some much needed experience under their belt that they can draw upon when looking to improve their respective skills.

鈥淲e are still young and did really well for a team that hasn鈥檛 played a competitive tournament together,鈥� said Smith.

鈥淭eam play drives so much of what goes on here, and we played some set teams that play together all the time.

鈥淭he Yukon style is run-and-gun, whereas the rest of the teams play a more half-ice controlled game. We adapted to what we could do in the short periods between games, we did play some half-ice style of play but working on our half- ice game is something that we need to work on. If we control the ball the other team can鈥檛 score.鈥�

The players on the Yukon Lead Dawgs will now turn their attention to their broomball season in the YBA.