For the first time in more than 10 years, Yukon minor hockey players will have the chance to go for provincial gold in their backyard.

With the 2007 Canada Winter Games fast approaching and test events already either planned or completed in alpine and cross-country skiing, speed skating and table tennis the Yukon Amateur Hockey Association (YAHA) has secured the 2006 midget AA B.C./Yukon championships, as yet another test event in anticipation of the Games.

It's a championship YAHA has been working on hosting for the past few years, but they always ran into a bit of opposition from other regions because of how far everyone would have to travel.

'I guess we put forth a good package this year,' said YAHA president Walter Brennan in an interview this morning, after arriving back in town from the B.C. Amateur Hockey Association (BCAHA) annual general meeting in Victoria. 'There is a cycle, sort of a 10-year cycle, of what division gets provincials. (In 2006), it's the Northeast B.C./Yukon division.

'Trudy Alexander, our BCAHA representative, who is in Fort St. John, really spoke up for us.'

The games will take place in Whitehorse, most of them likely at Takhini Arena, since it has the highest seating capacity.

The last time the Yukon hosted the provincials was in the early 1990's, and with the success of local hockey players over the last couple of years this past season in particular Brennan said getting them again now is huge.

'With the bantams getting the silver medal (at provincials) this year, as well as some of the kids finding success in Fort St. John (with the midget AAA Flyers), it's starting to give us a bit of a reputation as hockey town,' said Brennan.

Brennan said the bid couldn't have been successful without the great job Tourism Yukon does promoting the territory, or the support they had from Hockey Canada, which sent in a letter in support of Whitehorse hosting the tournament.

'The rationale being, we are hosting the Canada Games in 2007,' explained Brennan. 'We want to use it as a test event for the Games, just looking at our organization, as well as testing our facilities.'

The provincials are currently scheduled to start on March 12, 2006, just one day after the Arctic Winter Games wrap up in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula.

Brennan said YAHA is lobbying to get BCAHA to make an exception because of Arctics, and postpone the tournament one day that would mean it would start on Monday, March 13 instead of the Sunday, which could make all the difference.

'It's not ideal (having them so close together),' said Jim Stephens, a coach with the bantam Mustangs last season, many of which will be moving up to the midget level this coming season.

'But that happens whether we play in Whitehorse or go down south. I think the key will likely be good conditioning for the kids.'

Brennan said it may actually be a good thing. He said the Mustangs generally have a hard time finding warm-up tournaments in late February and early March for provincials, since B.C. usually hosts their regional championships at that time.

'So having the Arctic Winter Games the week before is a good thing for us,' he explained. 'It's sort of a pre-tournament tournament.

'Our kids are right up there, in terms of skill and toughness. What we lack is the game experience, and more tournaments give you that.'

Stephens expects that the Yukon will field a pretty good team at provincials, with the key bantam players from last year moving up and many good midgets from last year remaining with the squad.

'A lot will depend on what kids go down south next year (to try out for other teams),' he said. 'I think we'll have solid goaltending next year for sure. My understanding is that Ian Perrier will probably be playing here.'

As for what kind of competition the Mustangs can expect next March, since some teams may not want to travel this far for the tournament, Brennan said the Mustangs have always supported other host cities in the past, so he hopes those cities will reciprocate.

'It's not mandatory (to attend provincials), but it's frowned upon for not coming,' he said. 'There may be some hesitation, but the indication that we have is the majority of districts are very supportive.'

The next step for YAHA is getting a strong host committee in place, since right now they only have an interim committee.

With the championships less than a year away, they need to start working with local hotels and airlines, he pointed out, to see what kind of deals they can get for the competitors, to make it more attractive to the visiting teams.

'There's a lot of things to be done and people don't necessarily need to have a hockey background,' he said. 'There's things like making t-shirts and organizing hotel rooms and meals that anyone can help out with.

'We want to get a strong group together, simply because we don't want to be using all the coaches and managers. They will have many things to do as it is. We want to try and make sure that we don't overextend people.'

Around nine or 10 teams should take part in provincials, with anywhere up to 19 players per team, plus an average of three coaches and numerous parents. That means hundreds of people will descend on the territory for at least five days to a week.

'It's pretty exciting,' said Stephens.

'This will be a once in a lifetime opportunity (for the players). It's going to be some good hockey for the people of Whitehorse to watch, and a lot of the kids have never played in front of their home town crowd before, so that will be huge for them, too.'