U11 Yukon Wild take 4th in Richmond; look to future competition

-Submitted by Tyler Plaunt, Coach, U11 Yukon Wild

With huge excitement, 14 U11 female hockey players made the trip to the Richmond Ice Classic in B.C. for their first taste of competition against girls their own age from March 18-20.

Most of the Yukon Wild had played together as part of the first all-female U9 team ever in Whitehorse Minor Hockey, but opportunities to practice and play as a team over another pandemic-impacted season were few and far between in 2021/22 and never included the full team prior to lining up against the Sno-King T-Birds of Seattle for the first game of the tourney.

The eventual tournament winners proved to be an exceptionally tough test for the young team, hemming the Wild in their end with remarkable passing and relentless pressure while skating to a double-digit victory. Game MVP Zoey Newbury and Mckenna Hrebien set the tone for their teammates, playing with outstanding energy and if there was any disappointment for the Wild players, it didn’t last long.

After a visit to watch the U18 Wild tournament opener and a nervous start that again saw the Wild surrender two goals in the first minute against the Victoria Reign C2 squad, the Wild broke through on an end to end rush by Dawson City’s Taliyah Ewing. With confidence rising, the squad battled back to take a 4-3 lead before a raucous crowd. Victoria would manage to pot a late goal to push the game to a draw, but after the game, nothing but excitement and belief permeated the room. Goals came from Ewing, with two, Makena Johnson and Sohanni (Soso) Johnstone.

The Wild came into its Saturday morning tilt with Abbotsford knowing that if it wanted to grab a top two spot in its pool and a semi-final berth, it needed a decisive win. A fired-up Wild squad got off to a good start with Taiya Joss potting a goal after stepping off the half wall. Maisie Plaunt pushed the lead to two after a dominant shift by her, Johnson and team captain Sarah Cave. Ewing would pop two more goals of her own and Johnstone would round out the scoring, pacing the team to a 5-2 victory. The dressing room celebration around underage goalie Taryn Frizzell hit a fever pitch when it was confirmed that the Wild had secured a spot in the semi-finals of the eight-team division – where the Washington Wild waited. 


The atmosphere in the rink for the Wild vs. Wild semi-final was electric, as both teams traded chances and physical play. Ewing again opened the scoring and lock-down defence by Johnstone, Alice Belanger, Claire Callan and Denai Robins kept the game close well into the third, with timely saves by another underage goaltender, Olivia Irvine, giving the Wild a chance to play aggressively as they pushed for a tying goal. In the end, the Washington goaltender stood tall, turning away multiple breakaway chances from the Yukoners before her team was able to pad their lead in the dying minutes – sending the Yukon Wild to the bronze medal game on Sunday morning.

The Wild arrived for their final game of the tourney brimming with newfound confidence and belief. A beautiful early goal by Johnson was answered quickly by the opponents from the Victoria C3 Reign. A controversial goal was awarded to Victoria for a 2-1 lead. Multiple cell phone videos later confirmed that the puck never crossed the line behind Frizzell, but the unfortunate call gave the Victoria team some extra push and after two periods the score was 3-1 for the Reign. Some relentless physical play from the Wild’s smallest player, Gally Cann, put her in the box for body checking, but the play seemed to inspire her teammates and the Wild spent almost the whole third period in the Victoria end, only to be turned aside time and time again by the Reign goaltender. In the end, the Wild were unable to make the comeback and had to settle for 4th place. Afterwards however, the atmosphere was anything but sombre.

“I’ve never seen a team grow up so much over one weekend,” offered Wild coach Tyler Plaunt.

“They learned how to compete, how to be physical on and off the puck and most importantly, they learned how to win as a team. It was so great to have our older teams at the same tourney to show the U11s the price you pay to win hockey games. There is so much future potential with this group and we couldn’t be more excited for them.”

With female minor hockey registration at an all time high in the Yukon, the club’s grassroots efforts are starting to bear fruit, with several promising U7 and U9 players nearly ready to make an impact in a Yukon Wild jersey.


“We likely return all but two kids on this U11 team next year and there are many more girls in the pipeline that we’re excited about,” said Plaunt. “This is all such positive momentum for our program.”

U13 Yukon/N.W.T. Wild capture gold in Richmond

-Submitted by Dan Johnson, Coach U13 Yukon/N.W.T. Wild

As we sat together in a hotel meeting room, we had no idea what we were about to get into. Bringing together girls from four communities and building the Yukon/N.W.T. Wild was an exciting and daunting task. Our first meeting was tentative to say the least - we played some games and then followed that up with a breakfast where the only rule was that you had to sit beside at least one person you didn’t know. Little did we know that team cohesion would be the least of our troubles throughout the weekend. We registered in the Tier 1 level at the Richmond Ice Classic with a team consisting of six girls from the Yukon and six from the Northwest Territories. We knew what we had in the Yukon girls – a tough, smart squad – but the girls from the N.W.T. side were an unknown to the coaches. We also knew what we lacked – there would be no coordinated power play, our forecheck wouldn’t be planned out and our break-outs would be left to best efforts.

Just like the other two Yukon girls' squads, we landed on the mantra of “Attitude and Effort”. These were the only things in our control going into the games and the girls embraced this. Standing on the bench watching our squad during warmup for the first time, I could barely suppress my grin; we had a heater of a team and you could tell from the moment they stepped out for warmup.

From the start, the northern girls jumped out with Jersey Ashton netting a hat trick in the first period and never looking back. The final score ended up 10-0 with goals by Sophie Drummond and Ella Lawrence (two each), Olivia Bolt, Sequoia Mcdonald, and Kaiah Carter. Wild MVP was Jersey Ashton (hat trick) and the “Monster of a Game” was Scarlett Tourangeau who was a complete warrior, placing her will to win ahead of bodily care time after time. The “Monster of a Game” hat is a tradition this group has had where we give some special headwear to the unsung hero of the game. This early success was needed to bring these players from far-off reaches together and immediately bond them as a team.

To be honest, we weren’t at the right tournament and that wasn’t by intention, but the story was the way the group came together so quickly. After years of battling at the Arctic Winter Games and other tournaments, the Yukon and N.W.T. came together and it was an impressive show. The team was dominant and the coaching staff worked to place importance on the qualities of winning with respect, but also encouraged the team to play some games within the game. How long can we go without throwing a puck away? Can we learn to utilize the high forward? Can we learn to use our defence as part of the offence? It would have been easy to mail it in, but the group bought into treating this as a learning experience.

Yukon/N.W.T. Wild 11, Nanaimo Clippers 2 – Scarlet Tournangeau and Sophie Drummond each had hat tricks, Kasey Mckenna added two and singles came from Sequoia Mcdonald and Olivia Bolt. For her effort, Sequoia was honoured as having the “Monster of a Game” and Ella Lawrence received the MVP for some very smart play, hustle and decision making.

Yukon/N.W.T. Wild 8, Richmond 1 – Kasey Mckenna had a big night with two goals and two assists, Sophie Drummond continued to fill the net with another hat trick, Jersey Ashton made it back onto the scoreboard with two and Ella Lawrence added a single. Kasey Mckenna received the game MVP and goaltender Madison Parsons received the “Monster of a Game” hat for her key sequences of saves when the score was 0-0.

Yukon/N.W.T. Wild 12, Nanaimo Clippers 1 – Sophie Drummond was again busy filling the net with five goals and adding an assist. Scarlet added her second hat trick and Kasey Mckenna had another good night with one goal and five assists. Kelsey Impett and Ella Johnston had singles. For the game MVP, the coaching staff decided that the Nanaimo goaltender deserved their MVP as she was under fire the entire game and made numerous five-alarm saves. Sophie Drummond was on route for MVP, but the decision was that giving it to the opposition goaltender made sense. For her effort and puck digging abilities, Olivia Bolt received the hat for having a "Monster of a Game”.

Yukon/N.W.T. Wild 9, Richmond Ravens 0 – Kasey Mckenna continued her ridiculous scoring pace with five goals and two assists. Drummond, Johnston, Ashton and Danica Johnson, who’d been around the net all weekend, added singles. Game MVP was Danica Johnson and the hat, as per tradition, went to the team for a great effort all weekend.

While the game scores weren’t close, the team was. I’ve never seen a group that was thrown together become so close, so fast. The N.W.T. girls had rarely, if ever, played on an all-female team, so this opened a whole new window in terms of what a team can be.

“This was the Hay River girls’ first time playing on an all-female team, they all were very excited to have played on the team and had a phenomenal experience…they can’t wait for the next one!! It was great to see their excitement and the engagement they had with their new teammates. I think they’ve made some new friendships that will undoubtedly continue to develop at future hockey tournaments.” – Tod Ashton, Hay River parent

This experience has generated a lot of excitement, as the Yukon and N.W.T. players sadly said their goodbyes, but happily looked forward to when they could reunite and play together again. Big plans are in the works for the future with former rivals Yukon and N.W.T. coming together!

U18 Yukon/N.W.T. Wild strike silver in Richmond

-Submitted by Pat Tobler, Coach U18 Yukon/N.W.T. Wild

Players from Dawson City, Haines Junction, Whitehorse, Hay River and Yellowknife came together to form a northern U18 team for the Richmond Ice Classic last weekend. With only a limited number of U18 girls playing in the Yukon and no goalie, the opportunities for these girls to play competitive hockey are limited. As such, a call was made to Yellowknife to see if they had interested players, and as it turns out, the N.W.T. has had similar challenges with this age group and was keen on joining forces. Initially, there was interest from two Yellowknife goalies and several players; however, the goalies dropped out, leaving the team without a goalie only a month before the tournament. Luckily, a goalie was found in Hay River who was willing to travel.  

Having not yet met in person, the players arrived in Richmond on Thursday evening and immediately bonded during some team-building activities. On Friday, the team met for brunch and some more activities before their afternoon game. The girls were nervous and there was a real sense of anticipation of the upcoming games, not knowing what to expect of their new teammates or the competition. Eventually, they hit the ice against the Vancouver Angels in the afternoon. After a tentative first half of the first period and some big saves from the Hay River goalie, Kamilah Gostick, Whitehorse's Cassie Cebuliak used her speed to earn a breakaway and fired the puck in the net. From there, the team found their legs and finished the game with a 4-0 victory. Scoring were Yukoners Alia Drummond, Callie Quaile and Rachel Kormendy. They were back on the ice in a couple of hours versus the host Richmond Ravens and came away with a 5-3 win – goal scorers were Emma Carey, Jenna Demarcke, Brooke Tobler, Orlina Ménard and Alia Drummond.  

The next day, they took on the other undefeated team, the Lumby Stars, which was a team made up of players from the North Okanagan region. This game was an intense battle, as the Lumby team was big and aggressive and really challenged the squad from the north with their physical play. The northern squad responded well, but were not able to beat the Star's goalie. The final score was 2-0.

On Sunday, the northern girls had to get up early to face the Nanaimo Clippers, with the winner earning a berth in the finals. The Nanaimo team put up a good fight early in the game, but the Wild eventually found the back of the net with two goals late in the first period. By the end of the second period, they were up 4-1 and the Nanaimo team became deflated. The final score was 8-1 with Kormendy, Ménard and Tobler scoring twice and Drummond and Cebuliak adding singles. 

In the gold medal game, they again faced the Lumby Stars, who had not been scored on all tournament. After going down 3-0 in the second, Drummond finally put one past the Lumby goalie on a rebound. The northern girls played hard, but Lumby took the game 6-1. While it was not the result they wanted, the girls were happy to take the silver home and spent as long as they could on the ice getting photos with their new friends. Overall it was a great weekend and the ability to put a competitive team in tournaments by joining forces holds potential for the future of female hockey in the North. In recent years, several older girls left the territory to play competitive hockey and perhaps providing more of these opportunities could keep these local players in the territory longer.

The Richmond Report

-Submitted by Matthew Johnson


This past weekend, I had the opportunity to travel with and coach two female hockey teams made up of players from the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. We took part in the Richmond Ice Classic, a female-only tournament. Initially, I was coaching only the U13 team, but was asked to help on the bench for U18, a decision I will never regret. I won't write about the U13s; I'll leave that to my brother. It's a story you should not miss because that is a story of gold.
 
I'm not sure I can do justice to what this group of young women accomplished in a few short days of hockey, but I'm going to try. Prior to the tournament, the U18 Wild were short players and a goalie, but were going to Richmond regardless. Players from Yellowknife and Hay River answered the call, filling out our roster with a full line and a much-needed goalkeeper. We asked for hockey players and that's what they sent.



I had been involved with coaching rep hockey in the Mustangs program and helping with the Female Hockey Club in Whitehorse for the last couple years. U18 would be the highest level of hockey I have coached and I can't lie, I was pretty nervous.



If you have been involved in team sport, you will know how important practicing as a team is, which we never had. The two contingents met the night before the first game for a meet and greet and team building. At 8:30 p.m. in the gear room, female athletes from five northern communities met for the first time. We talked about the challenges we faced, having never practiced together. We had no power play, penalty kill, break-out, no idea on lines and we didn't know each other at all. Then we talked about what we could do and a mantra was formed "Attitude and Effort."



We talked bad calls, trash talk, dirty plays and how we would react to those scenarios. Then coach Pat Tobler had us play a game kind of like musical chairs involving a shared experience (we stole this from the U13s), and we established some common ground and hilarity ensued. A group of misfit athletes walked into that room; two hours later, a team walked out with a common goal. Work hard, have fun and make sure they never forget when the North came to town.
 
You won't get an accurate play by play or even a chronological summary of the tournament here. I will tell you about this group who represented two Territories and five northern communities, how they came together and almost won the whole thing. It's been a long two years for athletes and we were all grateful to be on a hockey trip playing games that mattered. I coach hockey because I like to take the game seriously, but hockey is a game you "play" and anything you "play" should be fun.



I wasn't on the bench for the U18s first game; I watched from the stands. They won the game and I had my eyes opened wide and my mind blown. I was familiar with the Yukon players, having practiced all winter. I had seen their skills in practice, but I had no idea what they were capable of. This was real hockey – it's fast, rough and exciting to watch. The compete level and skill on display was beyond anything I anticipated. I knew then and there I wanted on the bench and I wanted to be part of this exciting group.



I got the call for game two. They needed someone to open the defence gate, so I was in. We won that game, and the next, the team was gelling, feeling good and on a high. Then we meet the team from Lumby, B.C. They were big, strong, fast and had one hell of a goalie. We had yet to be challenged as a team – not that our previous wins were easy – but the Lumby squad was a different animal all together. 



They went up on us 2-0 fast. Emotions were high and the tension in the rink was as thick as ice fog. Our squad refocused and went to battle, not backing down. We contested for every puck, killing penalties like a well-oiled machine. When the dust of battle settled and the time ran out we came up short – we could not get anything past the Lumby goalkeeper. As the Lumby coach left the ice surface he said, "see you in the final."


After, as we waited for the bus, the team gathered in front of the entrance in a tight group. Buzzing with excitement, they were ready and they wanted another chance at Lumby. This was the kind of hockey we came to play and now we knew where the bar was set. I watched from a distance as the Lumby players left the rink walking past our squad. They looked mad and the contrast with our team was stark. We lost that game, they beat us, but we were not defeated.
 
Winning our next game guaranteed us a place in the final and we wanted it bad. Getting refocused after a loss is a challenge for any team in any sport. But that next game was never in question. From the drop of the puck to the final buzzer, it was clear that we were going to the final. This team of misfits was resilient and wanted to compete against the best. Lumby was the best.



We lost that gold medal game, but they didn't out-work us. The reality is they were better and their goalie was outstanding. There is no substitute for practice and playing games together as a team. When you lose a gold medal game, you get silver and that is hard to celebrate, but we did. We celebrated new friends, new connections and a well-earned silver medal.



I had to leave right after the game; another gold was on the line (U13). I didn't get to say goodbye to the N.W.T. players. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe this is the start of something new, or maybe we can turn this into a new partnership. Maybe this is a way for northern hockey players to compete nationally on a more level playing field. Thank you for showing me how a team can come together in such a short time and be great ambassadors for the North.