In part two of the year end review, we continue profiling the athletes, teams, and events that made 2011 so successful.

Today's recap includes two sisters who shot their way into the record books, a brother and sister skiing duo that are rising to national prominence, a community that relied on their dedication and support of athletics to help repair a massive loss, and how the Takhini Arena entered households across North America, to name a few.

In February, Don Cherry and Ron MacLean broadcasted their legendary Hockey Night in Canada live from the Takhini Arena. With Whitehorse selected to host Scotiabank's Hockey Day in Canada, the festivities quickly turned into hockey week as local hockey history was unearthed and put on display. The celebrations began with the unveiling of the Yukon Hockey History display at MacBride Museum and then carried on with events, ceremonies, and general appreciation and support of Canada's game.

Danielle and Kyley Marcotte, sisters from Pelly Crossing, dominated the field in several national shooting competitions this past year. In August, Kyley won bronze while Danielle took home the gold at the Canadian National Pistol Championships

in Calgary. The gold medal restored Danielle's top national ranking.

In January, the sisters traveled to Toronto where they captured five medals at the 2011 Canadian Grande Prix air-gun competition, including another gold in the team event.

In February, the sister's each captured gold at the Canada Winter Games in Halifax. Their performance in the women's air pistol team event was Yukon's first medal at the Games. By the time the Games came to an end, Danielle also took home three records.

Her scores of 372 in the 40 shots preliminary and 94.2 in the 10-shot match final were each individual records while her combined score of 466.2 also set a Games record.

The Nishikawa family has a talented duo of their own in cross-country skiers Graham and Emily. Their impressive seasons earned them the honours of Male and Female International Athletes of the year as selected by Sport Yukon in their November awards ceremony.

In February, Emily won three medals, including a gold in the 7.5-kilometre free event, at the Canada Winter Games. The previous weekend she captured gold at the Eastern Canadian Cross Country Ski Championships in the elite open women's category.

"I'm totally thrilled to represent the Yukon,” she told the Star. "I train with all these girls from Alberta and B.C., we're teammates, but it's cool that I can wear the Yukon colours on my back and win a medal for the Yukon.”

Graham also captured gold at the Eastern Canadian Cross Country Ski Championships. The performance secured his berth in a series of World Cup races in Scandinavia this coming March.

In May, the duo learned that they would each be named to the national cross-country ski team.

Emily became the first female Yukon skier to be named to the senior team since Lucy Steele, who was on the squad from 1988-1997.

Graham is undergoing his second stint on the senior team after becoming the first Yukon male named to the group in 2005.

The Nishikawa's weren't the only ones having fun in the snow and dominating the national athletic scene, Rachel Kinvig was also busy this past year mushing her way to a world championship.

At the Junior World Championship Sled Dog Race held in Anchorage in March, Kinvig set a new course record while also winning gold in the five-dog and six-mile class.

At the end of the season, Kinvig had won gold in the Tok Junior Race of Champions, the North American Championships, and the Junior World's.

Back on the slopes, Max Melvin-McNutt was able to reach the snowboarding halfpipe finals at the Canada Winter Games. The Games marked the highest level of competition Snowboard Yukon had ever reached.

Without the proper facilities to train, the plethora of talented skiers and snowboarders in Whitehorse would not be able to refine their talent.

A group of local youth made sure that would never happen.

Led by secondary school students from F.H. Collins, Porter Creek and Vanier, the students began a fundraising initiative called Save Our Sima (S.O.S.) in response to funding the completion of a new chairlift at Mt. Sima.

The project, alongside the incredible response from the community and corporate sector, allowed for the new chairlift to debut earlier this month on Dec. 15.

This past Tuesday, Mt. Sima had approximately 700 skiers and snowboards take to the slopes, a record high for the outdoor facility.

Whitehorse wasn't the only community banding together over an appreciation of athletics.

On March 10th, Ross River lost its community arena in a devastating fire.

The fire, which destroyed all the hockey equipment being stored in the arena, happened just weeks before the 34th Annual Yukon Native Hockey Tournament and left many in the community believing they would be unable to compete in the event.

But with the help of local business and Outside and southern support, the Ross River players were provided with new hockey gear.

"I thought we wouldn't be able to play anymore,” said 13-year-old Jack Ladue, who competed in the tournament. "But we had new gear and everything. It felt really weird the first day I tried it.”

Staying with fundraising, this year's Walk to Cure Diabetes was able to bring in over $11 thousand with nearly $7 thousand of those dollars coming from eight-year-old Cole Byers.

Byers has Type 1 diabetes, and raised the money through door-to-door visits and e-mail pledges. The money will go toward funding research for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

This past year also saw the debut of two local sporting bodies, Avalanche MMA and the Yukon Roller Girls (YRG).

The Avalanche club traveled to Chilliwack, B.C., where they made their debut at WarPath MMA on Sept. 2.

The team, consisting of Miller Rogers, Cliff Schultz, T.J. Woodman and Stefan Brynjolfsson, won each of their fights in the tournament.

The YRG also made their Whitehorse debut in September, hosting the Klondike Klash at the Takhini Arena. The local team came away with 159-104 win.

The Vanier Crusaders closed out their volleyball season with a dominating performance at the Yukon Volleyball Championships. Both the senior and junior division teams played their way to gold. For the two senior teams it was the perfect end to a perfect season, as neither squad lost a match throughout the year.