The spirit of hockey is certainly alive and well in Haines Junction.

The small Yukon community hosted more than 130 young athletes from across the territory, as well as a squad from Juneau, for the novice Spirit of 2010 hockey tournament this past weekend. More than 35,000 players across B.C. and Yukon are expected to take part in 170 Spirit of 2010 tournaments this year.

The tournaments are presented by the Province of British Columbia, 2010 Legacies Now, the Vancouver Canucks and B.C. Hockey. The idea is to promote fair and fun hockey at all levels, in anticipation of the next Winter Olympic Games.

'We really focused on fairplay this year and respect for other teams and officials,' explained Mark Ritchie, one of the Haines Junction tournament organizers.

At the ages of seven and eight, it can be tough to teach the players much more than how to shoot the puck and improve their skating, but the novice youngsters seemed to buy into the fair play notion.

There was fast and furious action throughout the three-day tournament, with seven teams divided into two pools. Pool A featured four teams from Whitehorse while Pool B had crews from Juneau, Haines Junction and a combined Dawson/Pelly/Teslin squad.

Each team played a total of three round-robin games leading up to the playoff round on Sunday. In the end, it was hometown Haines Junction taking on the visitors from Juneau for the top prize.

Haines Junction speeders Delean McCuaig and Daniel Bunn had been impressing the crowd all weekend, and once again led the offence in the final, providing all three goals for the hometown team. But it wasn't enough, as Juneau found a way to contain McCuaig and Bunn long enough to come out on top, 8-3.

'We played really good,' said Cahal Moorehouse, a second-year novice forward for Juneau. 'We maybe passed more and didn't swipe the puck away from our teammates as much.'

The victory was a huge turnaround for Juneau, which left last year's tournament with disappointment, after losing every game. This time around, the pure joy and excitement at claiming the trophy was etched on every player's face long after the final buzzer.

'We got smoked last year,' said Moorehouse, adding he knew the gold medal would be tough to get this time as well. 'In the last game (of the round-robin at this year's tournament), we played (Haines Junction) and we won by just one point. So we knew what they could do and they knew what we could do. We just played better.'

Juneau dressed six different goaltenders throughout the round-robin portion of the tournament, two for every game. In the final, they put their trust in Amy Spencer, who didn't disappoint, making several key saves in the second and third periods to preserve the win.

'I think our best goalie was probably Amy,' agreed Moorehouse.

In the Alaskan capital, explained head coach Jeff Moorehouse, they don't play full-ice games at the novice level. They play cross-ice games, three-on-three, with three games going at once. So they're used to having numerous goalies in the lineup.

'Really, there's no kid in this group who plays goal on a consistent basis. They all want to try it.

'Last year, no kid wanted to play more than one game, because we were losing,' he laughed.

What makes the story even more admirable, is the fact Juneau has only had an ice rink and a hockey program for four seasons, including this one. So that one more year of skating and coaching experience from last year to this year made a huge difference, Jeff acknowledged.

'We knew we could play with them, but we had no idea how it would turnout. I think (the difference) was strong defence and a deep bench.'

He also admitted a big part of the team's success had to do with shutting down Haines Junction's top two offensive threats.

'Our forwards were backchecking and catching up with (McCuaig and Bunn). Without that, it would have been a much different outcome.'

In the bronze medal matchup, it was Whitehorse's Elks Lodge taking on Pizza Hut, also from Whitehorse. The Elks jumped out to a 5-0 lead, and withstood a late comeback attempt from Pizza Hut, to claim third place with a 9-5 victory.

'We had to fight for this medal,' said Elks forward Kole Smeeton, who had a couple of goals in the contest. 'We had a lot of good passing.'

Passing was a common theme among the seven teams in Haines Junction on the weekend, which leads you to believe the youngsters just may be catching on to the whole 2010 spirit. Not to be outdone, the parents got in on the action as well.

'We had two parents versus parents games, so the kids didn't get to have all the fun,' said Ritchie. 'We had one full-gear game and one shinny game. We're hoping next year to add another full-gear game.'

The residents of Haines Junction worked hard to make sure everyone had a good time, organizing a movie night, a banquet and a video dance for the athletes. And Ritchie said the reaction from the visitors was nothing but positive.

'It was outstanding. Everyone had an excellent time. We had excellent support from the sponsors. Every kid left with a prize. And the weather was perfect.'

The keeper trophy, souvenir pucks and participation certificates were all provided by the Spirit of 2010 committee, as was a banner that will remain at the arena in Haines Junction.

Ritchie said it will be hard to top this year's tournament next time around, but hopes garnering some more teams might do the trick. In 2005, there were 10 novice teams in on the action, and Ritchie hopes Tok (Alaska) and Inuvik will come back again.

Jeff Moorehouse said there's a reason Juneau makes the Yukon novice tournament their only trip of the hockey season, and he has no doubt they'll be back.

'It's reasonable, it's fun and apparently it's our level of competition. We can hang here.

'The hospitality is amazing. We really appreciate all that everyone does.'