Dawson City, Watson Lake win oldtimer hockey titles

Two visiting teams snatched victory from the hands of local hockey clubs in the Whitehorse Oldtimers Tournament yesterday.

Two visiting teams snatched victory from the hands of local hockey clubs in the Whitehorse Oldtimers Tournament yesterday.

Dawson City beat the Roadhouse Rats 2-1 in overtime to win Group A, after Watson Lake edged Dease Lake 3-2 to win Group B. Both the Rats and Dease Lake were undefeated going into their championship matches.

The tournament saw 10 teams from across the territory playing at Takhini Arena throughout the weekend. Seven of the 10 clubs were from Whitehorse.

Dawson defenceman Ron Servatius capitalized on a Rats turnover and snapped a long shot past goalie Mike Hawkins to win the A final.

Frank Kormandy’s goal had staked Dawson to a 1-0 lead in the first, but a shot from Rats’ forward Jeff Jensen eluded Dawson goalie Daniel Green in the second period to tie it at 1-1, setting the game up for Servatius’ OT heroics.

“I can’t remember the last time I scored in overtime,” Servatius admitted post-game.

“It’s a good feeling. We were running out of gas and I didn’t want it to go any farther than we had to. It was a big win for Dawson and I’m really happy for our goaltender.

Our goaltender played awesome and that goal was for him. He was the MVP for us for the weekend.”

Green was solid in the final, in a game where his teammates racked up 10 minor penalties compared to six for the Rats.

In a round-robin game Saturday, the Rats beat Dawson 5-0, handing them their only loss of the tournament.

“They totally dominated us,” said Servatius. “But I think we were out of gas. We’ve got a pretty old team, average-age wise.”

Dawson’s average age was 48, second only to the Rats’ average of 51 in Group A.

Servatius, from Whitehorse, had two minor penalties in the final.

“We’ve got a good bunch of guys,” the defenceman said. “It’s all for the pride. We don’t play for the prizes and everything like that. We get a towel afterwards if you win. But for the communities to come in and be competitive, it brings the communities back. It’s the one time of the year that we can get together and have some fun.”

Jensen said it’s nice to see the trophy be won by teams from across the territory.

“It’s nice to see it spread around,” he told the Star. “Maybe we’ll win next year. We really look forward to playing in the tournament. It’s super fun, win or lose.”

He said in the last four years, the Rats have been in overtime of the championship game three times, winning once.

“It doesn’t get any better,” Jensen said of the overtime games. “We had a blast. We had so many shots on net. The play was all in the other end just about the whole game, but that’s the way it goes.”

In the Group B final, Charles Brodhagen scored what stood up as the game-winner late in the second period to give Watson Lake the win.

Darrell Peters and Adam Lightfoot also scored in the win, while Ken Cook and Emil Dendys replied for Dease Lake.

With the win, Watson Lake avenged their opening game loss to Dease Lake, 8-4.

“The oldtimers is all about participation and recreation,” said tournament organizer Stu Mackay.

The tournament gives local players who are unable to travel out of town for other oldtimer tournaments a chance to face off with players from across the territory.

“Some of the smaller communities don’t have regular teams or leagues,” Mackay explained.