The hockey tournaments continued this weekend with the 2019 Whitehorse Oldtimers Tournament with the final games taking place at the Takhini Arena on Sunday.

The A division final was played between the Yukon Inn and the Nationals, winners of the Yukon Native Hockey Tournament Old Timers bracket. The Nationals got down early but were able to rally to win the game 6-2.

The Nationals spread the offence out getting goal contributions from six different scorers. Peter Johnston, Rick Gingell, Jamie Cairns, Dave Pearson, Drew Laford, and Adam Lightfoot all lit the lamp for the Nationals.

The Inn got goals from Rob Green and Gord Campell, both in the first period.

After winning the Yukon Native Hockey Tournament and picking up a few more guys for the Oldtimers games, Johnston said the team was full of seasoned players.

“We have a lot of experience,” said Johnston. “We are not the youngest team in this league which makes it really good. Experience wins cups at the end of the day, and leadership and winning is just always fun.”

The Inn got on the board first but Johnston said the team just stuck to their game plan.

“We wanted to just play it simple, we wanted to come out aggressive and they scored the first goal and usually that can set you back a little bit,” said Johnston. “But at the end of the day we made sure we got the next one and the second one was crucial after that. Then we just wanted to come out and win the second period.”

Johnston said the Inn gave the Nationals everything they could handle.

“They are a good team too man,” said Johnston. “Most guys in the league are really good players. I know they wanted to beat us as much as anybody else did. We are starting to become behated, but at the end of the day I don’t mind taking that and winning.”

With two championships to their name in as many weeks Johnston said the Nationals might get a target on their back.

“Totally, totally,” said Johnston while laughing. “We just got to totally appreciate the journey we’ve been on the last two weeks. In your lifetime it’s a short period of time and you just got to take it all in and it’s nice to get a puck in the face as a gentle reminder.”

The Yukon Inn got on the board first. The Inn got out on a two on zero breakaway but Nationals goalie Tyler Plaunt was able to make the initial save. From there the Inn had a flurry of chances but Plaunt stood strong.

It wasn’t until Rob Green corralled the puck behind the net and circled out to the right face-off dot. Green let the wrist shot fly and it found the back of the net to give the Inn the lead just over two minutes into the game.

Johnston tied the game while shorthanded after taking a pass from behind the net and shooting it glove side.

The Yukon Inn regained the lead shortly after the penalty expired off a nice deflection from the point off the stick of Campbell.

Gingell scored after the Inn goalie misplayed the puck allowing the puck to sit in the crease to be knocked home.

The Nationals took the lead when Cairns skated down the right side of the ice and unleashed a beautiful wrist shot bar down on the short side.

Pearson padded the lead midway through the second frame off a nice feed out front.

The Nationals continued to dominate in the offensive zone and Laford banged in a rebound from a sharp angle while standing just below the goal-line.

In the B final Ian Kuster and Ryan Gleason each scored twice to lead Carmacks over Tim Hortons 4-2. Briar Young and Wade Harrison replied for Yukon Inn.

The C final went to overtime, with Rob Hill potting the winner 4:42 into the extra frame to give the Fri OT team a 4-3 win over the Tues/Thurs OT crew. Greg Lane added two for the winners, and Brad Burton got the other. Fred Linville, Joe Mason and Gary Boyd replied in the loss.

Now that the tournament is out of the way for another year, oldtimers players turn their attention to the playoffs. The double-knockout format begins Wednesday, April 3, with two games featuring Kilrich vs Air North and Yukon Inn vs Medicine Chest. The other four teams open their playoff run on Thursday, April 4 when Tim Hortons plays Firth and AON goes up against EDI.