The Whitehorse Huskies will be down two star forwards this weekend, due to a scheduling conflict with the Canada Winter Games.

Assistant captain Derek Klassen and his longtime linemate Rob Warner are in Prince George, B.C., coaching Team Yukon’s hockey entry, and will miss this weekend’s senior

hockey series versus the Yellowknife Flyers.

The two-game series will be held at Takhini Arena tonight and Saturday. Both games begin at 7:30.

Huskies coach Mike Tuton said the games against the Flyers will be an opportunity for the Yukon squad to test its depth.

“At the beginning of the year, we said we were a pretty deep team, and this weekend we’re going to find out if that’s so,” he said today.

Gibson Pearson and Andrew Pettitt will move up from the blue-line, while Rob Young will draw back in goal for the host team.

Meanwhile, the lack of scouting reports on the Flyers doesn’t have Tuton worried.

“We worry about ourselves first, and I think as long as we go out and dictate the way we want to play ... that’s kind of been our thought all year,” he said of the 6-0 Huskies.

This weekend’s series will feature the best homegrown talent from both Whitehorse and Yellowknife, and was made possible by a lot of hard work by Huskies organizer and assistant captain Clayton Thomas, said Tuton.

The games will be played with a “gentlemen’s contact” rule in effect.

Tuton said he expects two fast-paced games, as the series will serve as the final tune-up for the Huskies before their Coy Cup playoff series with the Fort St. John Flyers Feb. 28 and March 1.

With the Canada Winter Games lasting 17 days, Klassen and Warner are also slated to miss that series.

“Those are two key guys out of the lineup,” said Tuton. “When you lose two of your top six, you’re going to feel it. But nobody’s going to hit the panic button. We still feel pretty confident with the guys who are going to jump in and fill the void.”

The Coy Cup tournament will take place March 24 to 28 in Fort Nelson.