Whitehorse Minor Hockey president John Grant is impressed with the improvement he has seen in many of the league's novice players this year.

Whitehorse Minor Hockey held their year-end tournament this past weekend, with ages five to 14 participating.

Many of the younger tyke players started the season unable to even skate, but at the year-end tournament the tykes final ended with a shootout that needed 12 players to attempt a goal before the Tim Horton's Wild emerged victorious.

Grant said the tournament was a great display of the development the players have had this year.

"The level of hockey was unbelievable,” he said. "They just seemed to do very well this year.”

Grant was able to catch a few games this weekend, and was happy with the response that parents had.

"I think the parents are amazed at what they learn,” he said. "Some of them can't even skate at the beginning of the year.”

Another stand out for Grant was the Northern Avalanche girls team, who have been skating together for two years, coached by Louis Bouchard.

"A credit to their coaching staff for the effort they've put in,” Grant said.

Grant said the girls battled hard in the final, ending with a bronze in the pee wee division.

"They've run a really good program in the last two years,” he said.

The Avalanche aren't the league's only female players. In the atom division, team Coldwell Banker is made up of mostly female players.

"They didn't win a lot, but they sure improved,” Grant said. "They've improved immensely over the year.”

Grant said they plan to keep that group of girls together for next season after the success he saw at the tournament.

After catching a few games, Grant is confident enough to say that this year was the most exciting hockey he has seen in the time he has been involved with Whitehorse Minor Hockey.

"It was very, very entertaining,” he said.

Grant said he stopped in to watch a few minutes of a game, and ended up getting hooked on the action.

"I came in at the second period of a novice game and I had to stay right to the end it was that good,” he said.

Another exciting match was the bantam final, that saw Castle Rock overtake EBA Engineering with a final score of 6-3.

Grant will continue to act as president of the league until the end of May when the annual general meeting will be held and a new round of people will take over.

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Whitehorse Minor Hockey year-end tournament final standings

Tykes (5 and 6)

Gold - Tim Horton's Wild

Silver - Tim Horton's Canucks

Bronze - Tim Horton's Flames

Fourth - Tim Horton's Penguins

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Novice (7 and 8)

Gold - Yukon Office Supply

Silver - A.F.D.

Bronze - Skookum Asphalt

4th - Precision Research

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Atom (9 and 10)

Gold -: Cinderwood

Silver - Duncan's

Bronze - Envirolube

4th - Coldwell Banker (mixed team)

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Peewee (11 and 12)

Gold - Atom Jr. Mustangs

Silver - Underhill

Bronze - Avalanche (all female team)

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Bantam (13 and 14)

Gold - Castle Rock

Silver - EBA Engineering

Bronze - Kopper King

4th - Peewee Mustangs