Whitehorse native Ian Perrier is on a hot streak.

The 20-year-old Dryden Ice Dogs goaltender was recently awarded back-to-back Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL) player of the week.

In three road contests last week, Perrier allowed one goal per game in 184 minutes and 32 seconds of action and posted a stingy 0.98 goals-against average, as well as a 0.966 save percentage.

He also boasts a minuscule 0.58 GAA and 0.979 save mark for the Ice Dogs, who have four wins in their last five games.

In a phone interview from Ontario, Perrier was reluctant to take too much credit for his performances, though he called the two nods an honour.

"My team's been playing really well in front of me, so it wasn't just me. I think a lot of the credit goes towards my teammates as well,” the former Whitehorse Mustang said.

"It's really easy for the goalie to look good when the team's playing well in front of him,” he added.

"Right now I think the team is starting to gel a little bit better. Obviously, everybody's playing really well. Personally, I just feel comfortable with how the team is doing in front of me, so they're making it easy on me to play well.”

This season marks Perrier's first appearance in the SIJHL, after having played the past two seasons with the Calgary Royals in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

"It's interesting, being such a small league; there's a rivalry with everybody, so the games get pretty interesting, and it's easy to keep a close watch on all the players,” he said of the six-team league.

He arrived in the western Ontario town in September, immediately settling in as the club's No. 1 goaltender.

"I kind of established myself as a starter in the games pretty quickly,” Perrier said. "It's a confidence boost, the fact that the coach became comfortable with me right away.”

Perrier started the season with a 3-1 record before hitting a rough patch: the team went on an eight-game losing streak, five games of which Perrier started.

Ice Dogs head coach Clint Mylamook contributed Perrier's slump as a loss of focus.

"I think what had happened was, mentally, he started thinking too much, worrying about what everyone else was doing, instead of just focusing on his job, which is stop the puck,” said Mylamook, who took Perrier aside to discuss his role as a veteran on the young Ice Dogs squad, and his potential impact.

Perrier answered the call to step up.

The club traveled down to the SIJHL showcase in Spooner, Wis., late last month in what Mylamook dubbed "a sink or swim” chance to bust out of the team's losing streak.

Scouts from major junior teams and NCAA Division 1 teams descended on the small railroad town to catch a glimpse of what the SIJHL has to offer.

Perrier posted back-to-back shutouts against the league's top two teams.

The Ice Dogs opened the showcase with a 4-0 win over the Fort William North Stars, who were at the time ranked 17th in Canada, and a 1-0 overtime win over the Wisconsin Wilderness, a club which had just two losses all season.

"He was making big saves, timely saves, when we needed it,” Mylamook said.

"I like quiet goalies, so when you don't see a goalie flopping around, you don't get nervous as a coach. He didn't make me nervous. He was just square to the puck, rebound control was good; he was a rock back there.”

Perrier followed that performance by backing his team to a 3-1 win over the Fort Frances Lakers.

"Our team's been playing better, but you win with goaltending,” Mylamook said.

"Our league's competitive this year, but he beat basically three top 20 teams in a row.”

Perrier's recent performances have helped boost the club, Mylamook added.

"He made some real big saves and settled down our guys, so we could just play hockey,” he said.

"Good goaltending makes your team that much better. I think he really just started focusing on his position and that was it.

"And that's when I look for a spark from my goaltender, to make that one big save when it's a 2-2 game. After our stretch where we did lose a bunch in a row, he was making that big save, and you build off that.”

Perrier's play also turned heads at the showcase.

If he can maintain his numbers he's got a good shot at stepping up to the next level, Mylamook said.

"There's definitely some interest. In terms of top-level division one school interest, he's got to have a really, really strong year, and finish off as one of the top goalies in the league. If he's a top one or two goaltender, then he's going to get that division one interest to a school.”

From starting out as a Mustang, to winning bronze at the 2004 Arctic Winter Games and backing Team Yukon at the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse,

Perrier's knowledge of the game has grown as he's grown.

So what has he learned?

"Focus on your job, mostly,” he said. "From a goaltending standpoint, you just have to learn to read the play, and that comes with experience; the more games you play, the more you can see the game develop. And as you go along, it's not so much guessing where the puck's going to go, it's recognizing options and knowing what to do.”