Team Yukon was on the ice in the medal round for junior female, bantam male and midget male hockey this past Saturday, but only one squad was able to capture the gold.

The Yukon's midget team was able to defeat Team N.W.T in a thrilling 2-1 final at the Takhini Arena in front of a raucous hometown crowd.

The game was marked with consistent back-and-forth hockey; each team had plenty of opportunity to score but stellar goaltending from Yukon's Nigel Sinclair-Eckert and improved team defence helped seal the victory.

N.W.T were the first to get into the scoring column, when Keegan Hnatiw was able to beat Sinclair-Eckert on an unassisted goal with just over a minute remaining in the first period..

Yukon responded with a two-on-one rush seconds later but were unable to find the back of the net.

Things seemed to go from bad to worse for Yukon, as winger Matt McCarthy was called for a 5-minute major for head contact. Fortunately for Yukon, N.W.T was unable to capitalize on the ensuing power play.

"We would have liked to score, that was a tough one,” said N.W.T head coach, Brad Anstey. "Yukon played a smart game.”

With just over five minutes to go in the second period Yukon's captain, Mike Hare, was able to pick the top corner of the net, firing the puck past the right shoulder of N.W.T goaltender Josh Round.

The power play goal brought the crowd to a feverish pitch and the energy of the Yukon team rose with the crowd.

"It was absolute pandemonium in here,” Jay Glass, head coach of Team Yukon, said of the crowd.

With the momentum on their side, Yukon almost scored in the waning seconds on a three-on-one break but the puck was fired just wide of the net.

In the third period, N.W.T's Luke Daigneault was called for interference. With Yukon once again attacking on the power play, Tyson Glass fired a shot on net and Tyrell Hope was able to clean up the rebound.

In the final minutes, the game was a flurry of end–to-end rushes, N.W.T attacked without a goalie for nearly a minute before the final buzzer sounded and Yukon persevered their one goal lead to hang onto the 2-1 victory.

"We had an unwillingness to lose and that's what it takes,” said Sinclair-Eckert. "We were relentless. We weren't going to lose this game, it wasn't an option. We came with our game faces on and we delivered.”

The history between the two teams leaned in N.W.T's favour. Yukon lost to the them in the first game of the tournament, 4-2 and twice before in match-ups at the Canada Games.

"A lot of people were thinking N.W.T was going to take the game again but we were able to rally together and everyone played exceptional,” said Hare, who described the match as the biggest game of his career. "It's such a great feeling to win it at home.”

"We didn't want to disappoint,” said Glass. "We just maintained our composure and

discipline. We've got a special group here and I'm so happy for them and that they were able to hang on and prove it.”

Glass said in light of dropping the first match-up against N.W.T he made some line changes to minimize scoring opportunities for N.W.T's first line.

"We wanted to keep them to the outside and only take offensive chances if we had them,” he said. "We had improved discipline and defensive play and great goaltending. Nigel played fantastic for us and when that happens you've always got a chance to come out on the right end of the score.”

Round was named game MVP for N.W.T while Yukon defenceman Brayden Kulych was awarded the honours for the hometown team.

In junior female action, Yukon faced N.W.T and defeated the team 7-1 to capture the bronze. The bantam boys dropped a tough final to Team Alaska 6-5 to finish the tournament in fourth place.

Be sure to pick up a copy of Wednesday's edition of the Star for a complete recap of Team Yukon's successes at the 2012 AWG.