A wheelchair-bound goalie put on a performance to remember en route to floor hockey gold last week.

Lucas Yuill, 12, backstopped the Holy Family Hurricanes to the Yukon elementary floor hockey title last Wednesday in a game that went all the way to a shootout.

On their home turf, Holy Family beat the Elijah Smith Eagles 3-2 to top all 11 participating teams.

Following a 2-2 draw, the spotlight focused on Yuill in a best-of-three shootout.

After his team went up 1-0, the Grade 7 student watched with glee as the Eagles’ first shot rang off the post.

Following another Hurricanes goal for a 2-0 lead, Yuill stood tall as his opponent sailed a shot wide of the net – securing the victory for his squad.

“It’s pretty exciting that we won gold,” Yuill told the Star. “We won silver in Grade 5 and in Grade 6, we made the playoffs, but lost 4-3 to the hardest team.”

Born with cerebral palsy, Yuill has been tending net for Holy Family for four years.

This was the first time he took to the net in his wheelchair. Prior to that, Yuill would sit on the ground in the butterfly position to stop pucks, saving shots with his knees and body.

He also wore a blocker and glove prior to his time in the wheelchair.

This time, he positioned his wheelchair sideways, and used a joystick to move back and forth in the crease.

“Usually, they would hit one of my tires and an occasional shot would actually land in my seat, which was pretty funny,” he said.

One of his tricks included placing his stick along the goal-line, forcing opponents to raise the soft puck for a goal – a tournament rule.

“That way they couldn’t shoot under my chair,” Yuill explained, noting the technique saved a shot that could have been the game-winner for Elijah Smith in the final.

“It’s just insanely awesome,” he said of the victory, that sees him end his elementary hockey career a champion. “I don’t even have the words to say what I felt like in the tournament. It was amazing.

“To be part of that team was phenomenal. We had such a great group of guys. We had three Grade 6s and the rest of us were Grade 7s. It was all-around just a blast.”

Yuill admitted he’s been in a shootout situation before. In Grade 5, he stoned one opponent using his goalie mask.

“It was crazy,” he chuckled at the recollection.

Volunteer coach Pat Berrel said his team finished second in round-robin play before playoffs, where they bounced École Whitehorse Elementary School 4-1.

“Throughout the tournament, we only lost one game,” Berrel said. “It was quite a thing. The kids just went crazy. You see in the NHL, when the guys win the Stanley Cup and throw everything up in the air to go rush the goalie? Well, that’s what happened.

“You couldn’t have made a story that had a better ending than this. It was fantastic.”

Yuill is a dedicated goaltender, Berrel said, regularly attending practice on Fridays after school.

A large cheering crowd included the winning goalie’s proud mom, Corinna Yuill.

“It’s amazing,” she admitted. “I said: ‘Lucas, you’ve just made history. You know that.’ It was pretty amazing for him, for sure.”