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Whitehorse Huskies preparing bid to host Coy Cup

The Whitehorse Huskies will be back for another run at the Coy Cup this hockey season. But not only does the team want to win the B.C. AA senior men’s title, they want to win it at home.
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The Whitehorse Huskies will be back for another run at the Coy Cup this hockey season.

But not only does the team want to win the B.C. AA senior men’s title, they want to win it at home.

With a new board and new general manager/president selected at an annual general meeting on Monday, the Huskies will make a bid to host the Coy Cup at the end of the season.

“We’re developing a standard bid proposal. We have Sport Yukon on board in the development of that. They obviously have a lot of experience with luring world championships, whether it be for fastball, slo-pitch, the ski nationals, etc.,” said incoming president and general manager Dan Johnson. “(Softball Yukon’s) George Arcand and Echo Ross have provided some templates to use. It’s a written document outlining why we think we should host it and how we’re going to pull it off.”

The Huskies club has secured the support of the City of Whitehorse and is in talks with Northern Vision Development and Air North for accommodation and travel for visiting teams. There are a lot of ducks to get in a row before the application deadline of Aug. 26.

“We’re doing everything we cane to pull this together and meet the deadlines,” said Johnson. “At the end of the day what we’d really like to do is go down and present our proposal to B.C. Hockey.

“We think we’re up against a couple other strong hockey cities, but we feel that our venue, the lure of Whitehorse and the package we’re going to be able to put together is going to be successful.”

Johnson is taking over GM duties from Matt King, who decided to leave the position to avoid a possible conflict of interest with his new position at the Yukon Liquor Corporation.

Clint Teichroeb, a former Huskies player, has taken over the assistant GM position. John Stuckey, Jim Stephens and Craig Tuton have come on board as team directors.

Michael Tuton, who will be back for a third season as head coach, is looking forward to an active season.

“We had Whitecourt up here from Alberta last year and there are two teams from their league requesting to come up. I believe we have some dates set,” said Michael. “There’s a team from Kelowna that heard about us and wants to come and play. And there are two other teams on (Vancouver) Island who want to come and play us, as well as Powell River. So we should have a good healthy schedule this year.”

With many from last season’s roster expressing interest in returning, the team might forgo a tryout this season, said Michael. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be anyone new on the team.

Haines Junction’s Reid Campbell, who played pro hockey the last two season down in the U.S., has agreed to play for the team, said Michael.

Following a highly successful NCAA career, winning three Division III championships with the St. Norbert College Green Knights in Wisconsin, Campbell played defence for the Mississippi RiverKings in the Southern Professional Hockey League.

He is also the brother of Huskies captain Evan Campbell.

“If he’s half the guy in the dressing room his brother is, we’re going to be in good shape,” said Michael.

“We’re going to put out a pretty solid lineup this year.”

The Huskies were eliminated in the semifinal of the Coy Cup with a loss to the eventual champions, the Fort St. John Flyers, this past March in Terrace B.C. They finished with an 8-5 season record, going 4-2 in the regular season, 2-1 over the Powell River Regals to reach the Coy Cup, and 2-2 in Terrace.

“One of the biggest goals of the Huskies in general is to grow youth hockey in the Yukon and give these kids something to look up to and potentially land a spot in the lineup some day,” said Johnson.

Contact Tom Patrick at

tomp@yukon-news.com