It was the first real test for this year's young and relatively inexperienced edition of the Yukon Selects.

The men's rep soccer team travelled to St. Albert, Alta. for the Big Rock soccer tournament this past weekend and while they didn't bring home the gold, the Selects have to be feeling good about their performance especially considering they were missing a few key members of the squad.

'We went down there because it's a really inexperienced team this year, especially the back four,' said head coach Joe Zuccarini. 'I didn't want to take them to nationals green. This kind of wakes them up a little bit.'

The eight men's teams at the Big Rock tournament were divided into two pools, with each team playing three round-robin games. The top team from each pool advanced to the final.

Jumping in a van and driving for 24 hours straight, the Yukoners played their first game just several hours after arriving in St. Albert, which is just outside of Edmonton. They took on the hometown St. Albert Rangers, who play in the Premier Division in Edmonton.

'After 2,000 kilometres of driving, your legs are a bit woody,' said Zuccarini. 'We played the Rangers to a 0-0 tie. We played a very good game, well organized and disciplined. We created a lot of good chances and the youngsters played very well.'

The Selects played two games the following day, which Zuccarini said was tough in 30 C weather. Yukon was without Boris Hoefs for both of Saturday's games, due to a knee injury, and then they lost top striker Paul Fraughton to injury as well in the second game.

They still managed to beat both the West Side Axemen and the Warriors, by 6-0 and 9-0 scores, respectively.

'It was tricky, because you certainly don't like to run up the score,' said Peter Mather, one of the veteran members of the Selects.

'But since we tied the first game, and we knew the Rangers would probably win their other games, we had to get through to the final on goal differential, so we had to score more goals than the Rangers did.'

Mission accomplished. The Selects made it through to the final, where they took on the St. Albert Impact, a team which won their Division I league this season and will be moving up to Premier next year.

Hoefs had been icing his knee since Friday and was deemed ready to play in the final, but Fraughton remained on the sideline.

Zuccarini said Yukon created a lot of great chances and trailed just 1-0 at the half. It was back and forth for a while, but as the Selects opened up and pushed for the tying goal in the second half, the Impact took advantage of a less-stagnant defence. The final score was 3-0.

'I think we gave them a good run for their money,' stated Zuccarini. 'It was one of those games where, if we would have scored first, maybe the game would have been different.'

Mather said it was an important learning experience for everyone, despite the loss.

'We've got a very skilled team, but I think our lack of experience showed a bit in this tournament. Certainly, the first and last games were very, very good competition and those are the games we need to be playing.'

He pointed out the Impact boasted a player who many believe is the best in Edmonton, a Bosnian native who goes to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.

'Our guys really enjoyed playing against him, but it was frustrating at times,' said Mather. 'We have a young team, so you get into a big game and some of the younger players lose their composure a but. We couldn't keep control of the ball and it's hard to win like that.'

With the national championships now just a month away, the Selects will go back to the drawing board and work on the weaknesses they identified at the Big Rock tournament, as well as emphasize the strengths.

'I think we're on the right track,' Zuccarini summed up. 'This was a rebuilding year for us, but it seems like the younger players are doing fine.'

The Selects will have both Jake Hanson and goalie George Maratos, who couldn't make the St. Albert trip, back in the lineup for the national championships. Zuccarini said Hanson's leadership was definitely missed last weekend.

'He's a player that you just can't replace.'

This year's nationals will be hosted in Edmonton and the Selects drew a somewhat favourable group. They'll play Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Alberta in the hopes of making it into the second round.

'We know we can get results against Nova Scotia and P.E.I.,' said Mather.

They also like Alberta, Mather added, because some of the Selects have played against their athletes at college and university in the past and will be again this year, so there'll be some more familiar faces.

Hoefs, Fraughton and Ash Jordan will be returning to Grant MacEwan in Edmonton to play for the Griffins this fall.

Fellow Yukoner Nick Locke will try out for the Griffins as well, in hopes of joining them. And Hoefs' brother Ammon, who previously played for MacEwan for two seasons, is currently trying out for the University of Alberta squad.

Meanwhile, Morgan Fraughton will try his luck on the pitch a little farther away from home, at Dalhousie University.