This year's Yukon Atom Hockey Championships finished in Haines Junction on Sunday with Duncan's of Whitehorse defeating Teslin 9-0 in the gold medal game.

In an earlier match-up for the bronze medal, Cinderwood of Whitehorse defeated the Dawson City Ravens in an identical 9-0 score. Rounding out the seven team tournament, Envirolube, Coldwell-Banker – both of Whitehorse – and the host team from Haines Junction finished the tournament in fifth, sixth and seventh places respectively.

About 80 boys and girls from throughout the Yukon took part in the annual celebration of hockey for nine and 10-year-olds. Major supporters of the tournament were Haines Junction Minor Hockey Association, the Village of Haines Junction and the Yukon

Amateur Hockey Association.

The biggest supporters of the tournament, however, were all the volunteers, such as the coaches, concession workers and the parents who got the kids to the arena for some pretty early games this weekend.

Four teams from Whitehorse and teams from Dawson, Haines Junction and Teslin fought it out in the round robin portion of the tournament on Friday and Saturday.

One of the most exciting games of the round robin portion was the match-up between two evenly matched teams from Dawson and Haines Junction. The Klondike community eventually defeated the kids from Kluane 5-4. At the end of the play-off round,

Duncan's and Teslin both had perfect records, while Teslin's goalie Bradley Anderson had an amazing 0.250 goals against average, letting in only one goal in all four of Teslin's round-robin games.

As in past years, the Saturday night festivities were a highlight of the weekend. The community of Haines Junction came together and offered a great spaghetti dinner to all the tournament participants. Every player received a door prize and goalie Andrew Power of Haines Junction was recognized as the Goalie with the Biggest Heart during the round robin part of the tournament. The evening finished off with a game of shinny for the adults and a movie in the Grand Hall of the St. Elias Centre for the kids.

The next morning, every team moved into the play-off round, with the end result being Duncan's crowning as the 2010 Yukon Atom Hockey Champions.

The organizers want to thank everyone that helped to put on the tournament and congratulations to all the participants in the 2010 Yukon Atom Hockey Championships this past weekend in Haines Junction.

Submitted by Mark Ritchie, president of Haines Junction Minor Hockey Association .