Yukon athletes saved the best for last, picking up their final 28 ulus on the last two days of the 2006 Arctic Winter Games, held in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula.

Among those final ulus were gold for the junior male basketball team and the midget male hockey team, both of which dominated their competition in Friday's finals.

The basketball crew posted a convincing 80-57 win over the N.W.T. in the final, capping a week in which they lost only once to Alaska and outscored their opponents by a total of 573-486.

Tim Steele Beaver finished third overall in scoring during the Games, with 110 points, while David Pedersen collected 98 points (fifth) and Sina Kazemi had 90 (seventh).

Team Yukon Chef de Mission Trevor Twardochleb said from what he saw of the basketball final, the Yukon played an exceptional team game.

'Paul Butra (with Basketball Yukon) told me he's never seen that team play as well as they did, as a team (on Friday). Everybody was contributing. He said there was no doubt in his mind that was their best game of the season.

'A couple of guys were struggling off the start, but Jamie (Shaw, the head coach) was able to sub them off for a while, then put them back in, without getting behind.'

The midget male hockey team wasn't quite as confident in their round-robin, narrowly defeating Alaska 4-3 in the opener before downing Nunavut 10-1 and tying the N.W.T. 3-3 to end the first round. But in the gold ulu game, they made no mistake, blasting four goals past the N.W.T. netminder and adding an empty-netter to clinch the title 5-1.

'I don't think the game was ever in doubt, we were going to win,' said Twardochleb.

'It was 2-1 going into the third period and we worked really hard just to get that lead,' added Mike Young, who coached the team along with Joe Martin. 'We just kept doing what we were doing, believing in our system. We got a lucky bounce for the 3-1 goal and that made the difference right there. We played defensive hockey from there, trying to keep the lead.'

Young said the team was trying to find their legs in the first game against Alaska, and pointed out it was tough to get the players fired up for the round-robin game against the N.W.T., because they already knew at that point they were in the gold ulu final.

But in the final, it all came together. When the Yukoners really started skating and working the puck around, their opponents couldn't seem to handle them, he said.

'We feel we played really good hockey. It wasn't just that we won the gold medal, every guy on the team played great.'

The majority of the midgets will now prepare for the B.C. midget AA provincial championships, which are being held in Whitehorse this week, as members of the Whitehorse Mustangs rep hockey team.

Young, who also coaches the Mustangs, said the goal at AWG was to play good hockey and win gold, but also use it as a building block for the provincials.

'The kids are all fired up now. It's just another thing to build off of. They have a lot of confidence now and they all feel like they're in good shape as well. There's no doubting each other.'

There were also no major injuries at the AWG, which is key for the Mustangs' title hopes at provincials. Young said the last five minutes of Friday's final were rough, but the players kept their heads up and made sure not to get involved in anything that may hurt them in the long run.

Overall, the AWG experience for the midgets was good, he said, although it would have been a nice test for them if Alberta North had sent a team this year Alberta North is typically the strongest team in hockey.

'It definitely would have been nice to have Alberta there. It's always great to play a high-calibre team. Alaska definitely underachieved and the N.W.T. was a really good offensive team, we thought, but some of their breakouts weren't too strong.'

The facilities for hockey were 'gorgeous' he said, although some players thought the ice was a little soft. There was no ice flood between periods, which made for some interesting bounces during the final game. But, the schedule was good for the midgets, said Young. 'We were able to go and watch a lot of the other teams play.'

Athletes in individual sports also got in on the gold ulu action at the Games, including snowboarder Kayla Wilks. Wilks claimed first place in the juvenile female slopestyle competition, one of seven ulus Friday for Yukon boarders.

Wilks also grabbed a bronze all around while junior female Katrina Couch won silver in slopestyle. Ben Lefler and Liam Ferguson tied for bronze in the slopestyle juvenile male division while Matthew Young collected bronze in the junior male category. Ferguson also took home the bronze all around.

In cross-country skiing, Janelle Greer made it four-for-four at the Games, winning another gold ulu as part of the midget female 3x3-km relay team. Greer also picked up gold in the 500-m free, three-km classic and five-km free.

Her fellow cross-country skiers didn't disappoint either, grabbing silver in the juvenile female relay, silver in the junior male relay and bronze in the juvenile female relay.

And in speed skating, the Yukon team capped off a successful week in Alaska with gold in the junior male 3,000-m relay and bronze in the juvenile male 2,000-m relay.

Overall, it was a very successful edition of the AWG, despite the fact Yukon athletes didn't manage to reach their total of 108 from the 2004 Games, said Twardochleb.

'I was expecting us to do a little bit better, but some of our teams were very young. And some didn't have the competitions they thought they might.'

The one thing Twardochleb was most impressed with was the fair play and sportsmanship displayed by the Yukon athletes. He heard comments from many people throughout the week.

'You can only hope to lead a group of people that are so respectful toward others,' he said, adding he had extremely strong mission staff this year as well.

Yellowknife will play host to the 2008 AWG and Twardochleb said they will have big shoes to fill. He said the Kenai Games were one of the best he's ever been to.

'The people of the Peninsula are just wonderful people. And talking to the coaches and athletes, there were a few hiccups, but in general, things went very well.'