When Colleen Sostorics and Correne Bredin were first learning to skate, there wasn't much opportunity for female hockey players.

In fact, Sostorics, who grew up in a small Saskatchewan town of about 300 people, didn't even know that women's hockey teams existed.

'I was going to be the first girl to play in the NHL,' she smiled. ' I played boys hockey all through high school and it wasn't until I moved to Calgary (for university) that I played on an all-women's team for the first time.'

Now, both women are members of Team Canada and have participated in numerous world championships and international competitions Sostorics was a member of the 2002 gold-medal winning Olympic squad. And on top of that, they play in the Western Women's Hockey League on the Calgary Oval X-treme, as 2004 national champions.

This past weekend, they paid a visit to Whitehorse where they ran a female hockey skills camp for nearly 50 Yukoners.

The camp was jointly organized by the Yukon Aboriginal Sport Circle and the Yukon Amateur Hockey Association, with three different age groups 6-9, 10-13 and 14-19 hitting the ice at Takhini Arena. It was an idea that originally began in Watson Lake when the town's director of recreation programs, Mel Currie, tried to get Team Canada member Dana Antal to put on a camp since Antal has family in the Yukon community.

'But we just couldn't get them down there and back in time for their flight,' explained camp organizer Dean Mastrangelo.

So the camp was moved to Whitehorse and Antal asked Sostorics and Bredin to facilitate it. The two women were only able to make it North for the weekend, since the Canadian training camp wrapped up Thursday and they have league games this week.

'Although I've never been to Whitehorse, when I have been to the North, I've always had great hospitality and the people are so nice,' said Sostorics, when asked why she took the gig. 'I always want to come back up and I definitely wasn't disappointed this time.'

Bredin had been to Whitehorse once when she was a kid, but didn't remember much. Both women were hoping to have Saturday morning to look around the city, since their flight was supposed to arrive Friday afternoon. But thanks to a major delay in Vancouver, the plane didn't land in Whitehorse until about 4 a.m. Saturday. The athletes slept until 11 a.m. and then it was off the the camp.

The only stop they were able to make on the weekend besides the hockey arena and their hotel was Takhini Hotsprings. But the camp was the main purpose of the trip, and both athletes made the most of it, with on-ice sessions and a presentation for all age groups.

During the presentations, Sostorics showed off her Olympic medal and Olympic video as she talked about her road to get there and all of the experiences. Bredin spoke about the Women's Hockey League and all of the opportunities in hockey, as well as nutrition and living a healthy lifestyle.

On-ice, they ran through a number of drills with the local skaters.

'We tried to work on all the fundamentals, like shooting and passing,' explained Sostorics. 'But in all age groups, we worked the most on skating because that's the biggest part in hockey. If you can't skate, you can't play.'

Bredin said she was very impressed with the level of skill the Yukoners displayed, especially considering a lot of them live in outlying communities.

'We were really expecting to see a wide range of talent,' she said. 'This summer, I did a camp in Yellowknife and it was really spread out. You could almost not to drills because it was such a wide range of talent. But here, it was great.'

While skills is a big part of hockey, Sostorics said the main goal of the camp was to instill love of the game and show the female hockey players that they can achieve their dreams in the sport, or any other dreams they may have.

'Hopefully, we give the kids a little more awareness that there is women's hockey out there and they do have the opportunity to play in the future.'

For both athletes, the road to Canadian hockey started with the Canada Winter Games, their first experience on a main stage as part of a women's hockey team. So it seemed kind of fitting they would be putting on a camp for Yukon's female hockey players this past weekend, with the 2007 Games just over two years away.

'My first opportunity was a tryout for Canada Games and that's when I realized there were other girls playing who were really good,' said Sostorics. 'For these guys, the first step will be just like ours, the Canada Games. A lot of these girls will be trying out for Team Yukon. There will be scouts there. It's like a mini-Olympics really.'

And it's those scouts that can offer spots on college and university hockey teams, both Canadian and American. Sostorics took the Canadian route, playing for the University of Calgary Dinos for three years where she was named an All-Canadian. It was during that time she also joined the Oval X-treme.

Bredin took a different path to Team Canada, opting to play NCAA hockey at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where she was awarded All-Ivy and All-American honours.

'The four years there were just unbelievable,' she stated. 'I travelled so much, learned so much and met so many great people. There are just so many great things I've done in my life because of hockey. It's really guided my life. Hopefully, some of these people can experience that as well.'

And as many opportunities as there are for women in hockey now, so many more will probably arise as the popularity grows in the future.

'The kids we were on the ice with, by the time they grow up there may even be a pro league, there will be so many more people playing,' said Sostorics. 'So I think the opportunities in the future for these kids will be phenomenal.'

For Sostorics and Bredin, the future will hopefully involve another Olympic experience in 2006, as well as more world championships.

'As soon as I knew there was going to be women's hockey in the Olympics in 1998, that was my dream,' said Sostorics. 'I was fortunate enough to realize that dream, so now my new one is to play in another Olympics.'

'I haven't been to the Olympics, so that's my big goal for sure,' added Bredin. 'I have gone to the world championships, but I've only played in one, so that's not enough.

'So hopefully, this year I'll get to go again. We find out next month if we're going to go to the 2005 worlds in Sweden.'

And if Mastrangelo has his way, the athletes may once again be involved in a camp up north, although they may defer to their teammates next time around.

'A lot of parents loved it (the camp),' he said. 'They thought it was excellent that we had one just for girls.

'I've love to do it again next year, maybe bring up three (Team Canada) girls. It's something that would be good to do every year for female hockey, something that females can go out and do together on the ice.'