The Yukon Rivermen hosted the Northeast Trackers, playing Friday through until Sunday at Takhini Arena, in their second home series of the season.

The Rivermen took the opening game Friday night, but lost the second two.

In the first game the Rivermen, started off strongly, as they took the game at the Trackers. The Rivermen got on the board early with a goal by Logan Cunningham. The Trackers had very limited offensive zone time in the first period but were able to draw even on the power play with 8:56 remaining.

The Trackers were able to pull ahead 2-1 early in the second, but Andrew Carr was able to draw the Rivermen even at 16:11, when he buried a breakaway upstairs. The Rivermen regained the lead when Taylor Catcher one-timed the puck five-hole on a 2-on-1 pass from Ryder Twardochleb.

The Trackers were able to gain some momentum in the offensive zone on the power play, but Rivermen goalie Wynne Anderson-Lindsay turned away every shot that came her way. The Trackers did manage to level the score at 3-3 with 1.9 left in the second on a break away goal.

The late goal by the Trackers did not effect the Rivermen and they came out and scored 20 seconds into the third period. The Rivermen added to their lead on the power play when Twardochleb deflected home a shot from the point.

With two-minutes remaining in the period the Trackers pulled their goalie and scored twice, as the Rivermen were unable to clear the defensive zone. With the score tied at five at the end of regulation, the two teams went right to a shootout. Logan Cunningham got the game winning shootout goal, and Anderson-Lindsay stopped 2-of-3 shots to give the Rivermen the win.

The Rivermen were coming off three straight losses in there last series , but they left feeling confident, as well they are starting to gel together.

“It was definitely a better matchup,” said head coach Carl Burgess. “The players were coming off confident, they were coming off good periods of hockey against PG (Prince George). We had a little more space (Friday), and were able to execute some of our schemes.”

Although his team won the game, Burgess would like to see his team play a full 60-minutes.

“We started strong, but one of the big learning challenges is trying to do it for 60-minutes,” said Burgess. “We were happier with that, but we know we shouldn’t take so many breaks on that.”

In the second game of the series the Rivermen lost in a tight 5-4 loss. On Sunday the Rivermen played a another close game, heading into the midway point of the third period tied at two.

The Rivermen got goals from Carr, who scored on a beautiful individual effort while his team was on the power play in the first period. In the second period, McKinley Talbot buried a cross-crease pass, to give the Rivermen a 2-1 lead.

The Trackers answered back on the power play to tie the game at two, then took the lead with 11:43 on a shorthanded goal. The Rivermen got a prime opportunity to tie the game on a 5-on-3 power play but were unable to capitalize. The Trackers scored late, winning the game 4-2.

Even though the Rivermen dropped the final two games, Burgess believes the team is still heading in the right direction, but still recognizes parts of their game they need to fix.

“It was nice to see three tight games,” said Burgess. “I am proud of how the team is handling pressure, all the kids care very deeply. We are seeing things that need to be tweaked, but they are becoming more acute. The team is getting more comfortable with each other and the competition the program is on tack, but we need to see effort and commitment from the players to keep getting better.”

The Rivermen will now get a much needed two week break. The team has played three series in the past three weeks, including travelling to Kelowna, where they played four games over three days. The team’s next home series goes from Nov. 23-25 against the Okanogan South team at Takhini Arena.