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Junior Huskies edged out of gold in B.C.

While the Whitehorse Huskies senior men's team was getting wins against Powell River at home, the Junior Novice Huskies were producing wins down in B.C. over the weekend.

While the Whitehorse Huskies senior men’s team was getting wins against Powell River at home, the Junior Novice Huskies were producing wins down in B.C. over the weekend.

The Novice Huskies won three games en route to silver at the Fire in my Heart, Ice in my Veins Tournament in Enderby over the weekend.

“We just kept battling away; our team played really well,” said Huskies coach Derek Johnstone. “We played as a team the whole weekend. The passing and the teamwork was amazing. It was really encouraging to see because we put a lot of work into this this year.

“It was a great final game and the kids learned a lot.”

The Huskies took silver with a 4-3 loss to the West Kelowna North Stars in the final.

The Whitehorse squad fought back from down 2-0 with a pair of goals from Conner Labar. Teammate Jaxon Tentrees then closed the gap to one with a late third-period goal.

The Huskies scored a tying goal at the buzzer but the goal was disallowed.

“It was kind of crazy to see the game those kids from down there played against us,” said Johnstone. “It was kind of rough and chippy. But our kids stayed really fair and played hard and you could sure tell from the fans it was amazing to watch.”

“The Whitehorse Novice Huskies showed grit and played with class throughout the final game,” he added.

The Huskies opened the tournament with a 23-0 blowout over the Okanagan Knights. Huskies Kaelen Halowaty, Gavin Mckenna and Taylor Bierlmeier all notched hat tricks, while Chayce Tuton, Tyson Matthews, Nash Holmes, Zander Underhill and Tentrees each put in a pair. Labar, Kaleb Parry, Landon Cowper and Keaton MacIntosh also found the back of the net while goalie Jase Johnstone got the shutout.

“We came out pretty fast and that team was a little bit weaker,” said Johnstone.

The Huskies then downed the gold-winning West Kelowna North Stars 5-2 and the West Kelowna Predators 5-3. Taylor Bierlmeier played in net for the Huskies for the last three games.

The Novice Huskies is a selects team made up of the top players from the Whitehorse house league, put together to represent Whitehorse in the Air North Challenge between Whitehorse and Yellowknife teams in October.

“There’s such a strong group of players in this novice age group in Whitehorse right now ... The group that we have is amazing,” said Derek. “It was a pleasure to coach and watch and it was a great weekend.”

The Huskies senior men’s team remained undefeated this season with a pair of wins over the Powell River Regals at Takhini Arena over the weekend. The 6-0 Huskies downed the Regals 10-3 Friday and 7-3 Saturday.

The senior Huskies will host the Yellowknife Flyers next week on February 13 and 14.

Contact Tom Patrick at

tomp@yukon-news.com