It might only be in its second year, but the Yukon Elementary Schools Ice Hockey Tournament has already made quite the name for itself.

The second annual event, held Tuesday at the Canada Games Centres' Northwestel Arena, featured three additional teams, more players and better competition, while still emphasizing good sportsmanship, school spirit and leadership.

"What we are trying to do is build school spirit for the individual schools and for the most part, we want the kids to feel pride in their schools by fostering sportsmanship," said Ted Hupe, the co-organizer of the tournament. "We don't want to see any rough stuff, we don't want to see any poor sportsmanship, so we are trying to foster sportsmanship, school spirit and it is coincides really well with active living; the philosophy of keeping kids active and healthy."

The tournament began at 9 a.m. and ended at 3 p.m. In total, nine schools were represented, which included Hidden Valley Elementary School, Holy Family School, Jack Hulland Elementary School, Takhini Elementary School, Elijah Smith Elementary School, Whitehorse Elementary School, Golden Horn Elementary School as well as players from Ecole Emilie Tremblay and Christ the King Elementary School.

The players from Ecole Emilie Tremblay joined Hidden Valley's team, while the participants from Christ the King Elementary played for Holy Family.

A team from Teslin was also supposed to compete in the tournament, but a death in the community cancelled their trip to Whitehorse.

The event was open to all students in Grades 4-7 who could supply their own hockey equipment.

Teams were divided up into two pools and each team played at least four games at the tournament. Games were 15 minutes in length with a running clock and featured a no contact rule. Due to the shortened games, there were no penalties at the event, but penalty shots were called instead.

After the round robin concluded, the top team in each pool played a semi-final game against the second place team in other. The winner of those two games met in the final, while the two losing teams played to decide third and fourth place.

The winning school was awarded a banner to commemorate the tournament. Jack Hulland ended up winning the event, beating defending champions Elijah Smith in a close 1-0 final. Whitehorse Elementary placed third after they doubled up on Hidden Valley by a score of 4-2.

Possible changes for next year's tournament include having 10 teams as well as using both hockey arenas at the Canada Games Centre for the purpose of playing more games. The implementation of penalties is also being considered. Penalties would be somewhere between 30 seconds to one minute.

Hupe said there are a lot of advantages to hosting this event and added there is a lot of support within the community for the tournament.

"We found parents were very keen to see something like this happen, not just because it is hockey, but they find their kids get more enthusiastic towards school," he said. "Getting kids to play for their schools is special for them, it is something they will remember."

Scott Meredith, 13, is in Grade 7 at Ecole Emilie Tremblay and participated in the tournament for the first time. He said he was glad about taking part in the event.

"It was fun," he said. "I didn't really like how we weren't allowed to even touch each other cause I am a physical player, but it was fun; it is a day off school, so it is still a lot of fun."

Meredith, who plays defence for both Yukon Office Supplies in the PeeWee division and the PeeWee rep ‘B' team, said the highlight of the tournament was a game, which his team won 6-0.

"We had a really good time and we passed the puck a lot," he said. "That was a good game, I got a goal and two assists in that game.

Meredith finished the tournament with one goal and nine assists, while his team, Hidden Valley, finished with a record of 2-2-1 and placed fourth in the standings after losing to Whitehorse Elementary in their final game.

Meredith said he wishes he could play in the tournament again next year and hopes a similar event is offered in high school.

"It was fun and I encourage kids to do it next year."