The most-anticipated hockey tournament of the year came to a thrilling end for the A division EGT Nanooks last night.

The Nanooks, from Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., successfully defended their 2014 title by crushing the hometown CAFN Storm 8-3 in front of a packed house at Takhini Arena.

Cody Pederson scored three goals and had two assists to lead the Nanooks to glory, while Shaquille Merasty netted a pair and Gerald Desjarlais, Brett Dudar and Max Kotokak added singles in what turned into a blowout win.

“We had a slow start to the tournament, but we came out on top,” said Pederson, 27, from Buffalo Narrows, Sask.

“Today, all of our boys were ready to play and we came out really strong.

“We’re used to playing in these tournaments,” the silky-smooth forward said of the team’s success. “Everyone buys into the same system and everyone likes winning.”

The Storm, a team based out of the Champagne Aishihik First Nation, stormed out of the gates, going up 1-0 on a goal by Robbie Stuckey.

However, the team, which included many Whitehorse Huskies players, allowed five straight goals to the Nanooks, before getting late markers from Clayton Thomas and TJ Cunningham to make it close.

Storm captain Ryan Gleason said the tournament was an emotional one for him, as the Yukon Indian Hockey Association dedicated it to his late mother, Sandi Gleason.

“Words can’t describe it,” the 32-year-old told the Star. “It was unbelievable how well we were treated this weekend. My mom’s looking down smiling, that’s all I can say.”

The Nanooks, sponsored by E. Gruben’s Transport Ltd., beat the Storm 3-2 in a shootout in the first A division game on Friday, then went on to crush the Nannock Warriors 9-3 and the Lower Post Eagles 4-2 to earn a berth in the final.

Five teams competed in the A division, with the Nanooks taking home $6,000 for their victory.

Young Warriors speed past Eagles in B final

Last year’s C division champions out-skated their rivals to win the B division 9-5.

The Inland Tlingit Warriors took down the Lower Post Eagles thanks in large part to a hat trick from Mike Arnold and two goals from each of Cournall Apsassin and Eric Hamlin.

Evan Tordiff and Neil Vermillion also scored in the win.

Colin Dendys, Dylan Apsassin, Nathan Larotke, Darrel Moon and Sammy Bosek scored for the Eagles.

Eleven teams competed in the popular B division, with the Warriors collecting $4,500 for their win.

The Warriors took the hard road to victory after dropping an early contest to the Selkirk Bears.

But they bounced back to beat the North Yukon Eagles, LJ’s Sabres, Selkirk Bears, Tahltan Bear Dogz, and K&D Contracting Outlaws to earn a berth in the final.

Inuvik team wins wide-open C final 5-4

Plumb Crazy Mechanical Ltd. (PCM) edged the Dease Lake Mooseheads in a wide-open C division championship game.

Five different scorers hit the back of the net for PCM, including Deeron Snowshoe-Vitrekwa, Ernie Gordon, Keaton Cockney, Travis Smith and Matthew Skinner.

Mooseheads scorers were Bradley Creyke, Justin Ratray, Justin Waite, and Brandon Moffet.

Moffet’s goal came on a giveaway by PCM goalie Chris Church. Moffet picked up the puck and deked out to defenders before putting it five-hole – all while shorthanded.

“We beat every team that we played,” said Dang Dang Gruben, a 19-year-old blue-liner for PCM. “We’re young and we’ve got lots of energy.”

“Three quarters of us play together usually,” he said. “We came here to have fun. We don’t have many tournaments up in Inuvik.”

PCM took down the Iskut Wolverines, Tage Cho Warriors, and the Mooseheads to earn a berth in the final, while Dease Lake had a much harder road following their first loss to PCM on Saturday.

Nine teams competed in the C division this year.

Roulette’s six goals lead old-timer club to victory

Winnipeg’s Clarence Roulette proved to be an unstoppable force for the Kaska Warriors Sunday, scoring six goals to lead his team to their third straight tournament title.

The Warriors downed the Champagne Aishihik Bruins 10-2 in the old-timer final, with the game ending with 3:42 left in the third after Clarence Spence put the Warriors up by eight goals.

The Warriors, based out of Watson Lake, got six goals and an assist out of Roulette, and a hat trick and four assists from Spence, marking a tough game for Bruins netminder Matt Wealick.

“I should have had a little bit more than that,” Roulette chuckled after his six-goal game. “I think I hit the goalpost three or four times.

“We came here to win. That was our expectation,” said Roulette, who noted he played pro hockey in the early ’90s.

Kevin Johnstone rounded out the scoring with a single, while Blaine Monahan and Michael Jim had the Bruins goals.

The Warriors beat the Whitehorse Arrows and the Han Timberwolves to earn their date with the Bruins in the championship game.

Four old-timer teams participated in this year’s tournament with the winners taking home $2,000 in prize money.

Leas scores twice as Warriors take jamboree

Jonas Leas was the only player able to find chinks in Josh Tetlichi’s armour Sunday as the Jr. Inland Tlingit Warriors edged the Gwich’in Spitfires 2-1 to win the jamboree final.

Fifteen-year-old Leas, who recently played a starring role for Team Yukon at the Canada Winter Games, buried his second goal of the game behind Tetlichi with 5:50 left in the contest.

Josh Van Bibber picked up assists on both of Leas’s goals.

“It means a lot,” Leas said of the tournament win. “We came in third last year so we wanted to win this year. We did what we wanted to do.”

Familiarity between teammates helped pave the way to glory, Leas explained.

“We’ve been playing together for a while and have great chemistry. That made us win.

“The tournament is top-notch,” he added. “There’s lots of tradition at it and it’s the funnest tournament I play every year.”

Kaiden McDonald had the lone Spitfires goal, beating Ethan Vanderkley with an unassisted marker.

The Warriors mowed down the Iskut Wolverines, Tahltan Selects and the Spitfires to earn a berth in the championship final.

Eight teams participated in the jamboree division.

Gwich’in Braves claim youth crown in blowout

Kaien Tait, a 13-year-old sniper from Hazelton, B.C., scored five goals and added two assists as the Gwich’in Braves won the first title of the Yukon Native Hockey Tournament.

The Braves blew away the Jr. Tahltan Selects 10-4 at the Canada Games Centre Sunday morning on the strength of four players.

Oscar Sawicki sniped two goals alongside four assists in the victory, while defenceman Zoe Leas added a goal and four helpers.

Sam Skinner had the Braves’ other two goals to round out the scoring for the Old Crow team, who repeated as tournament champions after winning last year in a shootout.

“It was really fun,” Tait said of the team’s Cinderella run.

Regan Asp had two goals for the Selects in the loss, while Nigel Mortimer and an unidentified player had singles.

The Jr. Tahltan Selects are based out of Dease Lake.

The Braves took them down twice en route to the championship, also beating the Carmacks ‘Lil’ Wild Ones.

Five teams participated in the youth division.