麻豆社区

Success at the 2014 Arctic Winter Games won始t always come in the form of ulus for the Yukon始s contingent of 260 athletes.

In 2012, Whitehorse hosted the event and collected 121 medals, second only to Alaska始s 190.

Some teams, such as the men始s midget hockey squad, enter Fairbanks as the defending champions and will be looking to repeat.

"I think we始ve got a good squad,鈥� team captain Craig Berube told the Star at a pep rally send-off held Friday night at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre. "A lot of guys have played together in the past when we were younger. We始ve got some new guys too, that I始m looking forward to playing with.

"I think if we really gel as a team, then we始ve got a good shot at winning.鈥�

But even as the territory始s hockey team has golden aspirations, other teams are simply looking forward to the experience.

"We始re a bunch of rookies,鈥� said juvenile male soccer player Callum Wood Ryan. "So we始re hoping to do our best and get some good experience out of this.鈥�

Similarly, women始s basketball 麻豆社区Quynh Nguyen wasn始t willing to set her hopes too high.

While the team enters Fairbanks as the defending champions, this year始s group is a young one that will need to outwork their opposition in order to find success, she said.

"We plan on playing hard, applying what we learned in practice, and come out strong,鈥� Nguyen explained.

"Hopefully this will be a really good learning experience for all of us.鈥�

Men始s volleyball captain Kyle Wallace said his team fully intends to win a medal.

The Yukon won gold in 2012 over Alberta North.

Wallace said he expects Alberta North and Alaska to be their main competition in the coming week.

"I think we can definitely get top three, but I think we始re shooting for first place,鈥� he said Friday. "Hopefully we can do that.鈥�

Meanwhile, the juvenile female soccer squad may eventually avenge its 2012 championship final loss to Alberta North, but that始s not exactly their goal heading into Fairbanks.

"Our goal isn始t so much to place well, the score of the games doesn始t matter,鈥� captain Jamie McLeish explained. "What matters more is just playing good soccer and playing really well.鈥�

Andrew Seal, a veteran skier on the Yukon始s cross-country ski team, shared similar sentiments, but assured the team would try its best.

"We始ve got some new skiers here 鈥� it始s their first year skiing, so they just want to try their best and represent the Yukon as best they can,鈥� he said.