It's been a season of ups and downs for the Northeast B.C. and Yukon District Tracker Flyers.

After starting the season 7-0, the Flyers went 1-5-2 in their next eight, and subsequently lost former head coach Scott Longstaff, who decided to step down in just his second season behind the bench.

With a new coach in Scott Emslie, a former assistant behind the bench, and a renewed commitment to hard work, the players were ready to turn things around.

They didn't quite get off to the new start they expected, winning just three of their next eight games, but they finished off the month of December winning two of three games and also claimed victory in their last regular season game Jan. 7, against Fort MacMurray.

Hoping to add even more of a spark, the Flyers summoned Yukoner Drew Pettitt for their AAA tournament in Kelowna last week. Pettitt, who regularly plays for the Whitehorse Northern Cross Mustangs midget rep team, has been an affiliated player for the Flyers since the start of this season.

Pettitt joined the team for five games at the Kelowna International Major Midget Tournament, taking on the Okanagan Valley First Rockets, Notre Dame, Airdrie Lightning, Waterloo Wolves and Colorado Thunderbirds.

'It was a lot faster pace than what I've been playing here,' said Pettitt, in an interview back home in Whitehorse Tuesday. 'There were a lot of good competitive teams there. Every team there could have won the tournament.'

The Flyers lost their first game against the Rockets 8-0, thanks mainly to five power play goals in the first period alone. One of the Flyers players took a five minute major for hitting from behind and the Rockets went on to score five times in those five minutes.

'It's tough to play those games,' Pettitt understated. 'With all the penalties, there was nothing we could really do about losing that one.

'We actually didn't really have results until the third game.'

In the second game, the Flyers were up 1-0 heading into the second period but had some big breakdowns, and it was 2-1 for the Wolves when NEBC and Yukon goalie Evan Karambelas got called for an equipment malfunction and backup Andrew Van Der Merwe had to come in temporarily. Van Der Merwe let in a couple of goals right away, and that was pretty much the end of it, said Pettitt, although he pointed out the loss was the fault of everyone on the team.

'What we were doing was pretty much playing hockey for two periods and not coming out for all three. You can't win hockey games like that.'

Colorado came into the tournament as favourites, but ended up falling to the Flyers 3-1 in Game 4 and finished with a record of 1-4. The Flyers also finished at 4-1, after a narrow 2-1 loss to Notre Dame in their final round-robin game.

While the end result may not have been ideal for the Flyers as a team, Pettitt turned some heads and was pleased with his performance. Despite starting the tournament in a limited role, he scored three goals in the last three games and finished first in scoring on the team.

'The first game was hard to get into, because I was so nervous. I didn't get much ice time either. But the second game, I started playing a little better and in the third game, I really felt comfortable.

'The first game, I played with a checking line, so my role was a bit different. The second game, he switched me up a bit and then in the third game, he put me with another 15-year-old and a 16-year-old. He called us 'the kid line' and he really liked us, so he kept us together for the rest of the tournament. I got a lot more ice time as the tournament went on.'

Emslie actually believes Pettitt should have been with the team from the start. It was Longstaff who decided during tryouts that he didn't want any 15-year-olds on this year's roster, despite the fact Pettitt had a strong showing.

When Emslie took over in November, he called both 15-year-olds up and asked them to come join the team in Fort St. John for the rest of the season, but for Pettitt he already had commitments both in hockey and at school, so he elected to remain an affiliate.

Affiliates are only allowed to play five games during the season before they are considered a full-time player with the club, so Pettitt had made arrangements to play in the Kelowna tournament and then remain with the Mustangs. But the Flyers now believe tournament games might not count against the five-game total, so they're hoping to bring Pettitt down in February for their final road trip of the season.

Officials for both the Flyers and Mustangs are currently trying to confirm whether or not that is true, because if Pettitt were to go over the five-game limit even unintentionally, he wouldn't be allowed to play for Whitehorse at the B.C. provincial championships in March. And with provincials being hosted in Whitehorse this year, Pettitt doesn't want to miss out.

It's expected that the final details will be available within the next week.

'(Playing with the Flyers again) would be awesome,' said Pettitt. 'Just because the competition is so much faster and stronger.'

Even if it doesn't work out that Pettitt can rejoin the Flyers this season, there's always the possibility that he could join them next year. He's also hoping to try out for a few junior hockey teams down south in the summer.

With a trip to Europe also in the work this summer, Pettitt will certainly be keeping busy. He's been selected to represent Canada as part of Team B.C. at the Czech Challenge Cup in July, along with fellow Yukoner Reid Campbell.

The Czech Challenge Cup is the most prestigious junior summer hockey tournament in Europe, based out of Prague. Canada sent two teams to the event last year, one from B.C. and one from Saskatchewan, comprised of the best players under the age of 17 in the respective provinces.

Campbell was part of last year's B.C. team as well� the first Canadian squad to win gold in the history of the tournament and the young defenceman is expected to captain the team this year.

Canadian coach Don Stoneadge began scouting players for this year's Cup the minute last year's ended, and made his final selections in December. He heard about Pettitt through Campbell and the Flyers organization and came to watch him when the Mustangs attended a tournament in Richmond over Christmas break. It was there that he informed Pettitt he would definitely be on the team.

Meanwhile, Campbell and fellow Yukoner Adam Henderson will represent the Flyers in this weekend's Rural Alberta Midget Hockey League All-Star Game. Flyers defenceman Jordan Shipton will also be playing in the event. Henderson, who is the captain of the Flyers, has 44 points in 29 games this season 20 goals and 24 assists. Campbell, a defenceman, has five goals and 19 assists for 24 points.