Justin Saunders seems to have a knack for notching timely goals.

Saunders earned 71 points in the Yukon Broomball Association (YBA) regular season last year, found the net regularly for the Yukon Brewing Lead Dawgs during the 2010 World Broomball Championship recently and sniped the overtime winner in the Bob Park Opening Tournament held Nov. 19-21 at the Takhini Arena and Canada Games Centre.

Finding themselves in first place after the round robin, Coyne and Sons met the Roadhouse Bar and Grill in the finals Sunday afternoon.

Leading 2-1 with 20 seconds left in the game, Coyne conceded a late goal to push the game into overtime.

"It was kind of demoralizing, takes the wind out of your sails for sure,” Saunders said. "It's kind of shell-shocking, to try to come back after something like that. You can just see it going the wrong way. But I love this game, and it's just fun to come out and play no matter what.”

It's probably particularly fun to score the game winner in OT. Saunders picked up the ball at the red line and passed to his father Chris, who beat the defender and returned the pass.

Justin slid and smacked the ball past the Roadhouse's last player.

"We haven't won this tournament for seven or eight years, so it's really nice to finally come out of it with a win,” Justin said.

And winning is a feeling the Saunders are becoming accustomed to.

Justin and his father Chris, as well as mother Julie, brother Stefan and sister Amber all play for Coyne in the YBA league.

Justin, Chris and Julie were traveled to Innsbruck, Austria, at the beginning of the month, when the Yukon Brewing Lead Dawgs won bronze at the world championships.

Julie said that by the end of the worlds the team played like a family.

"It was more than just the three of us; the whole team just melded together, and everybody became one unit,” Julie said.

"You win as a team, you lose as a team.

"You would think that we just won the World Series of baseball. It wasn't a gold medal; but for us, it was.”

Justin was the leading point getter after the first round, and when all was said and done, Chris was awarded the tourney's best defenseman.

"It makes it a lot easier to play defense when the whole team is playing D,” Chris said.

The Lead Dawgs conceded five goals throughout the worlds – zero after the first five games.

"The games are pretty low scoring – goals are usually hard to come by – so we concentrated on playing D and keeping the ball out of the net,” Chris added.

Head Coach Scott Smith said that the Lead Dawgs' solid defending coupled with Margo Millette's goaltending helped propel the team to bronze.

"She was in the zone, and a nervous bundle of energy, but she was instrumental in getting us to where we got in the tournament,” Smith said of the first-year goalie.

The team underwent dryland training over the summer but didn't gain much game experience before heading to Austria.

But with the result, Smith and his players hope the bronze medal will shine a spotlight on the sport.

"It's a very exciting time,” Smith said. "There's a real good buzz around. There's a real interest. Lots of good players in the league weren't able to go. There's lots of different tournaments around that people want to go to.” Justin agreed.

"There's a lot of exposure now,” he said. "It's nice to hear people telling you that they've seen your name in the paper. It's exciting. Maybe we can get another couple teams going to get more games.”

The local league consists of seven teams – each of which was entered in last weekend's tournament – and Smith said there is still room to grow.

"I think with the success of what our league and of what the players are capable of, now there's a lot more interest. So I think we'll probably have to have a try-out situation for a competitive team,” he said.

Anyone interested in signing up for the league can visit www.yukonbroomball.com.

League registration is $100, which includes insurance.

Added Smith: "It's social, you can play with family.

"Here we have two generations playing on the Coyne team and on the Roadhouse.

The opportunity to play with friends and family in a recreational setting is great.”