They may not have skated away with first place in the tournament, but the Yukon midget rep team put a lot of concerns to rest this past weekend, when they competed in Dawson Creek, B.C.

'From last week, I'd say I feel 99 per cent better (about the team),' said coach Joe Martin in an interview after practice Tuesday. 'I think they're so close. They're just a step away. All they need to do is get together and realize our goal and get their heads around it.

'I know it's starting to sink in with some of these kids.'

The Dawson Creek event was a cash tournament teams claimed $20 for every period they won and another $20 for every game. If the period is tied, the teams split the $20. The Yukon squad finished with $190 and a record of 2-2. They won seven periods, tied a period and lost four.

Their first game was against McKenzie on Saturday at 7 a.m.

'They had probably 12 skaters and our team had 16 or 17,' said Martin. 'We beat them 11-2, so it wasn't much of a game. But I could tell something's clicking. Things are working.'

Just five hours later, the midgets were back on the ice for a game against Grande Prairie, which they lost 4-3.

'They had three power play goals,' stated Martin. 'We should have won that game. We were undisciplined and that cost us.'

There was more bad news for the Yukon when they lost their top defenceman, Michael McGowan, to an injury during the second game. But they came back with a 6-1 win Sunday morning against Fort St. John. The coach said while Fort St. John hit well and played well, the Yukon was a better team, both in terms of physical play and skill.

Sunday afternoon was the start of cash finals, as the midgets faced off against Dawson Creek. Going into the last game, Dawson Creek was 3-0, Grand Prairie was 3-1 and the Yukon was 2-1, which meant if the local crew beat Dawson Creek, there would be a three-way tie for first place in the tournament. The tiebreaker would have went to the Yukon. Unfortunately, they ended up losing 9-4.

'The only reason we lost, I believe, was once again penalties,' said Martin. 'But also, we just didn't have the legs. The guys were exhausted.

'We lost J.J. Stuckey to a stupid penalty. He got kicked out of the game for mouthing off. And we had four defenceman for 60 minutes of hockey (they only have five to begin with).'

But Martin said despite the fact they played their worst game of the tournament as a team, he felt they were still right in it it was 6-4 until the last several minutes which is a good sign.

'When we went down there, I thought we had two really good lines,' he said. 'Coming back, I am 100 per cent sure I can count on every single guy and I didn't know that going down there. If two guys have an off night, it doesn't matter who it is, we've still got three great lines. And that's a good feeling.'

Martin said any concerns the team had about goaltending were also addressed in Dawson Creek, thanks to the play of J.P. Burrel. Against Grande Prairie, Burrell made close to 50 saves to keep the Yukon in the game.

'That was the best I've ever seen him play,' said the coach. 'I didn't even know he was capable of what he showed down there. We were all pretty impressed. The team ... you could just tell they were comfortable with him in net.'

Even though the midgets went down to the tournament with two goaltenders, Burrell and Doug Ponsioen, and neither of them were set as the number one starter, Burrel played all four games.

'We had a meeting in the hotel, and it was decided that we're not here to play favourites. We're here to win.

'Doug, he was really good about not playing. He was cheerful, he kept the guys upbeat. He and J.P. were taking notes on the other goalies in the tournament and sharing tips on how to beat them with the rest of the guys.'

Martin was also impressed with defenceman Nick Mauro, who he pointed out is in his first year of midget, so he's only going to get better.

'We put a lot of pressure on him and he came through.'

As far as forwards, the coach called Chris Gleason the best player in the tournament, as the Yukoner finished the weekend with eight goals in the four games.

'I played pretty good,' stated Gleason. 'It felt like every time I got the puck, I scored. We had a lot better chemistry this weekend. We're a lot better than we thought we were.

'Tyson Hawkins, he was playing pretty good. he got four goals. And out whole defensive core, they surprised me this weekend.'

Gleason said his favourite goal was probably the one he scored with a minute left in the game against Grande Prairie. He took a pass from Aaron Pettitt in the faceoff circle and hit the top right corner of the net.

The Yukon forward will be travelling back to B.C. this weekend, where he's trying out for the B.C. aboriginal hockey team, which will compete at the national aboriginal hockey championships in New Brunswick later this year.

'They invited me from last year,' explained Gleason, adding although he didn't make the cut last year, this year he has more confidence. 'I was too young last year, at least that's what they told me. I have more experience now.'

That experience will hopefully come in handy at the B.C. provincial championships too, which is the next competition for the rep team, and also the biggest event of the season.

Martin said the entire group of Yukon midgets are really focused on provincials following the weekend tournament, calling them 'a really great bunch of kids.

'If we get everyone healthy, if we can get Mike McGowan healthy, I'm pretty happy with these guys. We're just hoping to stay out of the penalty box. That's something I've been stressing.'

In fact, Stuckey was suspended from practice Tuesday for getting kicked out of the game against Dawson Creek. He took part in the dry-land training and also the bag skate, but he was relegated to taking stats and collecting jerseys for the rest of the session. Martin said they needed to make an example out of him.

'We need him. We count on him in every game. I hope the other players see what happens, no matter who it is. I hope they see that it will hurt the team when you take stupid penalties. He knows what he did was wrong.

'They've got to be accountable for every penalty they take. You don't want to screw it up for the guy sitting next to you.'

The team is also working on their cardiovascular strength, which the coach realized this past weekend wasn't up to par.

'In provincials, we won't be playing two games a day, but we will be playing harder teams. In dry-land today, we worked them harder than we've ever worked them before. And on the ice, we skated them harder than we ever have before.

'We had one player come off to puke and another player came off because his legs were cramping up.'

Gleason agreed that conditioning was a big factor for the midgets in Dawson Creek and that it's the main area they need to work on heading into provincials.

The squad will also be working on team building, in the form of a weekend trip to Haines Junction sometime in the next couple of weeks. Martin said it's a tribute to the three team members from Haines Junction Wyatt Drift, Spencer Tomlin and Thomas Moore who make the trip to Whitehorse a couple of times a week in order to play.

'Those three guys coming in all the time is pretty awesome,' stated Martin. 'So we're going to go out there for a weekend and do a team building thing, sleep in the arena on cots, have a spaghetti dinner, skate and go for hikes.'