Whoever said girls can't compete against boys in hockey has never watched a game played by the Northern Avalanche in the Whitehorse midget house league.

On Monday, the team won its first game of the season, beating their opponents 7-3 in an entertaining game played at Takhini Arena.

'It's great, the girls are really happy,' said Cheryl Rivest, co-coach of the Avalanche. 'It was good to get a win, it was good for them and it was good for their confidence.'

There are four teams in the Midget House League and only two have official names, being the Avalanche as well as the Bantam Mustang's rep team. The Avalanche played against one of the unnamed teams in Monday's victory. The team is allowed to borrow players in the league to make a particular game more even. Last night the team played with three boys, who were filling in for some of their players that couldn't make the game.

In a back and forth game that was a lot closer than the final score indicated; it was the Avalanche who struck first. Travis Sturko scored for the team at just under the five-minute mark of the game.

However, this lead would be short lived and in the final 10 minutes, of the opening period, Team One tied it up on a goal by Dylan Gower. Cody Mitchell would put Team One ahead just a few minutes later when he scored on a slap shot from the corner.

The Avalanche fought back though and with time winding down in the first, the team was able to put in the equalizer after Sturko scored his second of the evening.

The second period began with one of the Avalanche's substitutes players getting ejected for body checking, which is against the rules in recreational hockey. This left the team with only two boys playing for them in the game.

Defence was the highlight of the second and both goalies kept their teams in the game by making timely saves and shutting down multiple scoring chances. The Avalanche started turning it on though towards the midway point of the period and eventually were able to put themselves ahead, after an initial shot that hit the post was put in. Coralie Ullyett scored the goal.

Team One didn't quit though and tied the game up on a goal that also hit the post before it was put in.

Despite the late goal, the Avalanche would carry the tempo throughout the third, forcing Team One's goaltender to make a number of difficult saves. It didn't take them long to go up 4-3, scoring seven minutes into the period on a goal by Eddie Oulton.

And after Team One hit the post, on a shot that could have tied the game, the Avalanche put it out of reach by scoring three goals in less than five minutes. Credited with the goals were Oulton, Sturko and Angela Burke.

Alex Whitelaw, a goalie on the Avalanche, said it was a relief to get the win.

'It actually feels pretty good, she said. 'A lot of girls really showed their skills.'

Whitelaw said this was the team's best game of the season.

'We wanted to show up in this one and everyone was really pumped and ready to play,' she said. 'It was just a good day. We're really happy.'

Rivest said intensity was one of the keys in winning the game.

'The girls were first to the puck and playing really well together as a team, so all the little stuff that you need to do to win, they were doing it all and it showed,' she said. 'It was the basics right from the ground up that they played tonight.'

She hopes the team will be able to build on the win.

'You kind of have to get to a certain point in the season and have everybody on the same page, so everything has to work together in hockey to have success and that happened,' Rivest said. 'It's not that they haven't put the effort in before, but everything clicked tonight and it is good when that happens.'

She said it is better for her players to compete at the midget level than in a younger league.

'When they are playing against their own peers they can go out there and really play hockey and when they go out there and play against a female team somewhere else then this is to their advantage to play at this level,' she said. 'This is where they should be playing and I think they showed everyone that tonight.'

Rivest said playing in the league is a real benefit for her players.

'It shows them that they are able to play at this level and that they deserve to be here, they are good hockey players,' she said. 'This is where they belong and they are having fun and that is the number one thing as far as we are concerned.'

Girls who are interested in playing for the Avalanche or recreational hockey in general can contact the Yukon Amateur Hockey Association or Sport Yukon.