The Yukon roller girls will be heading to Juneau on Feb. 18 to meet the Alaskan capital squad on their own turf.

The event will feature the entire Whitehorse team, who will be carpooling to Skagway and taking the seven hour ferry south to Juneau.

"We are sending a full roster, so fourteen girls, a couple of refs, and some non-skate officials, like score keepers, you'd be surprised how many people are involved,” said Julie Enman.

The Whitehorse and Juneau teams are both relatively new to the sport, having less than two years experience respectively.

"Both teams have a strong affinity for one another,” said Enman. "It's still going to be hostile, but it's going to be fun too.”

The roller girls' last competition was against the Fairbanks Roller Girls on Sept. 10 at the Whitehorse broomball arena, in an event dubbed the "Klondike Clash,” which sold over 500 tickets. The Yukon girls won that match 159-104.

This is the Roller Girls' fourth match, and their first bout of this skating season.

"We've taken a bit of a break since competing against Fairbanks,” said Enman. "We're modeling our season along the same lines as the Alaska teams, who compete through the winter and spend the summers doing other things, you know, hunting, fishing, things like that,” she said.

The time off has given them a chance to recruit some "fresh meat,” she said.

The Roller Girls have recruited 10 more players this winter.

"It's a pretty diverse group of girls,” said Enman. "One of our girls is even running for Rendezvous Queen.”

The team is hoping that the expansion will help earn the Yukon team some recognition, outside of the region.

"Right now we are about building credibility, building on the skills of our players, with the new girls, we're getting ready for bigger things,” said Enman. "We have been pretty fortunate to get some women with experience. We have had some people go to boot camps Outside and bring together different ideas, drills etc.,which have made us stronger.”

Focus on technique has given the team the opportunity to develop the more finite aspects of the game.

"We are focusing on strategy right now,” said Enman. "We are a pretty small, fast team and we have some really athletic girls. Our fresh meat looks so good, and they are so strong, because of our coaching and people pushing them in the right direction.

With the expansion of the team and the local fan base, one ongoing issue has been finding a permanent location for the team to practice.

"We are still looking for a space that can house us,” said Enman. "We are looking for a place that's big enough for the public to come and watch us, so people feel like they are out there supporting us for a good reason.”

The team hopes the Juneau event will draw a crowd of local supporters.

"Part of the planning for the match, on the Juneau end, was to coincide with the sister cities dart tournament,” said Enman. "They are hoping to get some Yukoners down to cheer for both events.”

The event will be held at 7 p.m. at the Centennial Hall Convention Center.

The Whitehorse Roller Girls will also be playing in Fairbanks in May and Abbotsford, B.C. in November.