After two convincing wins Wednesday, the Yukon junior male volleyball team clinched second place in the round-robin standings at the 2006 Arctic Winter Games in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula.

The men, led by three-time match MVP Tory Wiebe, will now take on Alaska in the semifinals tonight. They beat Alaska, as well as Greenland, 3-0 on Day 3, finishing the round-robin with a 4-1 record, second to only Alberta North (5-0).

Alberta will take on Nunavut in the other semifinal.

Coach Sukh Sandhu said while it seems like the Yukon should come out ahead of Alaska in their semi, he's not getting ahead of himself. He described their round-robin matchup as 'a poker match', pointing out he wouldn't give the Alaska coach a real look at Yukon's top lineup (they already knew they would meet in the semi), and that he's sure his counterpart was thinking the same.

'I'm feeling really confident going in,' said Sandhu, in an interview from Alaska. 'They're going to throw everything they can at us.

'They have really good all around athletes, not just good volleyball players. One of their guys plays football as well and some of them play in (volleyball) men's league. But we have the edge in size, so I hope that will help us out.'

At the AWG in 2004, the male volleyball team took home the bronze, but Sandhu said this time around, their ultimate goal is to come out on top.

'This is a good group of guys. Six of them are returning from the (2005) Canada Games, which really helps. There's a lot of leadership on this team and a lot of skill.

'And this is really special to them, because it's the last time that they'll all be able to play together as a team. We really want to make the final and then hopefully achieve or dream of gold.'

If the gold ulu is in Yukon's future, they will rely heavily on Wiebe to have a strong playoffs. While 2004 belonged to then-Yukon volleyball sensation Mitch Anderson, who is now playing at university. Sandhu said this year, Wiebe has stepped into that role.

'Tory has really come into his own. I switched him to power hitter for this tournament. It's his first time playing that role and he's really opened a lot of eyes here.

The junior female volleyball team will face Greenland in their semifinal today. The girls finished third in the round-robin, after a tough 3-2 loss to Greenland Wednesday.

Alaska will take on the N.W.T. in the other semi.

Sandu said the girls are also doing very well and he expects them to come out tough against Greenland this afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Yukon curlers are also busy preparing for the playoffs, which get underway this afternoon. The junior male team finished with a record of 2-2, which put them third after the round-robin. Three teams ended up with a 2-2 record, and the Yukon came out on top of Alaska and Nunavut in the tiebreaker. Alaska and Nunavut will play today for the right to meet the Yukon.

Alberta and the N.W.T. will play for a bye to the gold ulu final in other junior men's curling action today at the AWG.

The Yukon's junior female curling team finished fourth after the round-robin and will now take on Nunavut today in order to advance. Alaska and Alberta North will battle it out for the bye to the final on the women's side.

In basketball, the Yukon junior male squad may have dropped their last game to Alaska, 88-77, but they remain on top of the standings with a 4-1 record. The have one game remaining in the round-robin, against Nunavut today, and if they can win that match, they'll clinch a spot in the gold ulu final. If they lose, they can still go for gold, but they would need help from the other teams.

Meanwhile, the junior female basketball team lost 61-44 to Alaska on Day 3 and sits at 1-4. The women also have one game left, against Nunavut, but they already know they'll be playing for bronze. Alaska and the N.W.T. have clinched the two spots in the gold ulu final.

Several Yukon teams are finishing up their round-robin play at the AWG today, including the midget male hockey team. The midgets will face off against the N.W.T., who knocked them out of gold ulu contention at the 2004 AWG. But no matter the outcome of the game, it will be a rematch of Yukon/N.W.T. in the final. Both teams are currently 2-0 while Nunavut and Alaska are 0-2.

The bantam male team is scheduled to play the N.W.T. today and with a win or a tie, they would earn a trip to the bronze ulu game.

Yukon speed skaters, meanwhile, are back in action after a day off Wednesday. After two successful days as far as the ulu count two gold, two silver and two bronze athletes Troy Henry, Tara MacKinnon and Brett Elliot will once again be looking for the podium.

'The kids are all doing very well,' said Bruce Henry, the president of the Yukon Speed Skating Association. 'Jesse Reams, he's only been in speed skating for a year, so he's doing fantastic, considering his short time in the sport. Across the board, our juniors are doing great.

'The juvenile boys team is very, very young. They've just basically started skating, so it's been a real eye-opener for them, just hanging out with kids from around the world.

'The biggest part for them is just learning about the competition.'

The speed skaters are competing in two different arenas at AWG this week, one of which is an outdoor rink, which means the team is subject to the weather and air temperature.

'But they have really good ice there.'

'We don't get to see all of the other events here, because everything is so far apart,' said Henry. 'But it's been a great experience.'