With all the talk lately about how good the Yukon's Canada Summer Games male soccer team is, maybe the Selects felt they had to prove something.

The men's squad, made up of the best soccer players in the Yukon of all ages, came out firing in their weekend series against both the Games team and a group from Fairbanks, winning all three of their contests as well as a more casual match against the Alaskans on Sunday morning.

'We were pretty good actually,' said Selects member Jordan Kulicki. 'We kind of found our rhythm this weekend, I guess you could say. We found a lot of space out there and it really made the games easier than they could have been.'

While the Selects are very familiar with the Games crew, who they play once a week plus in additional tournaments, it's not too often they get to take on Fairbanks, so they weren't really sure what to expect.

After a 4-1 win by the Selects Saturday morning, and then a 2-1 win by the Canada Games team over their Alaska counterparts on Saturday evening, the local squads admitted they were hoping for a little bit more from their Alaskan counterparts.

'It threw us for a loop in the first half (of Saturday morning's game), because their defenders were big guys and we were having trouble getting around them,' said Selects coach Joe Zuccarini. 'But we adjusted in the second half and scored four goals. So yeah, it wasn't really as good of a competition as we had hoped for. But it was somebody different to play, which is always good.'

Kulicki said it seemed like the weekend was 'sort of a pub crawl in a sense' for the Alaskans, but agreed with Zuccarini that it was good to face someone from Outside of the territory.

'I think they just had difficulty putting their best players together, which is too bad,' he said. 'But they still had some really skilled players.'

It came down to the two local groups in the final, but after the first half with the score 1-0 for the Selects it seemed like the Games team ran out of gas. They ended up losing the final 3-1.

After returning from a tournament in Alberta last weekend, head coach Spencer Rich admitted his crew was 'very tired right now.

'I think we did as good as we could,' he said. 'We pushed them as hard as we could. We were missing some key components of our team (six of the players didn't take the field Sunday, either because of injury or because they were out of town), but the other guys stepped it up.'

'I think we'll be fresher next time we play them.'

Rich did, however, give full credit to the Selects, who he said are playing better right now than they have in years if not ever. That means Zuccarini, who has been handed the task of selecting the men's team for the national championships, will have an even tougher time making any cuts.

'I thought they all played really well,' he said of the weekend's competition. 'I don't have one thing bad to say about any of the players who played this weekend.

'I think we have a very strong defence and it's going to be a really tough decision. Our midfield is really coming along, too. We're a little bit weak on our left side, but we'll adjust. By the time we go to nationals, everything's going to work out just fine.'

Kulicki, who just recently returned home after completing university, said compared to past Selects squads that he competed on, this team is looking quite good heading into nationals. He said everything is just clicking at the right time.

'It's hard to explain. But I remember other years, it was basically the same guys (that it is now), and it wasn't clicking like it is now.

'It just seems like the stars are aligned for us.'

Zuccarini said the difference this year is everyone is finally playing like one unit, something he strives to instill in his practices. If you don't go out on the field and play on the same page, he said, you won't play at all.

'That's the way I train players. If you don't play as one, you won't win games.'

And come October, at nationals, the Selects will be looking to win as many games as possible, though they will be up against some very stiff competition. Zuccarini will rely on a deep bench, something he hasn't had the benefit of in the past.

'We've never had the luxury of having so many players that are at such a good level,' said the coach. 'And I think the Canada Games team is in the same boat. Not only will we have a good team on the field, but on the bench as well.'

Both the Selects and the Canada Games squad are hoping Juneau which was supposed to compete this past weekend but pulled out at the last minute will come to Whitehorse in the next few weeks, so they can hold another weekend tournament.

'We know they're a very, very good team, so we really hope to be able to train against them,' said Zuccarini.

The addition of a few games against Juneau would be a huge benefit for the Canada Games team, since they need to simulate the competition they'll face in Regina. That's why even the games against the Selects are important, said Rich.

'The Selects are probably better than Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan (who the Yukon will face in their opening-round games),' explained Rich. 'And the good teams, like Quebec and Alberta, are probably as good as the Selects at the U-18 level.

'Our (U-18) players need to realize that this is the type of game they're going to need to win at Canada Games.'

Zuccarini agreed, and was quick to congratulate Rich on his team's effort this past weekend, despite their frustration in Sunday's final.

'Our team really feels that even though they're losing against us, they're getting better and better all the time,' said Zuccarini. 'Personally, I think they can do really well at Canada Games if they keep the positive attitude up and keep working hard on the field.'

Rich and his team will now spend time in practice working on some of the things that came up over the weekend.

Zuccarini and the Selects are hoping to attend another tournament Outside before nationals, but don't have anything nailed down yet.