The Yukon Indian Hockey Tournament had 38 teams compete this past weekend, from communities all over the Yukon.

There were 21 adult teams and 17 youth teams vying for the top spots in their divisions.

Last year was the highest amount of teams with more than 40, but Yukon Indian Hockey Association president Karee Vallevand said the event was still a success.

"Overall the tournament was great,” she said.

While the number of teams was slightly down, Vallevand said they actually had to turn away three youth teams to ensure there was enough ice time for everyone.

The tournament was played on all ice surfaces in Whitehorse to accommodate the huge number of games.

Vallevand said all of the games she got a chance to see were great displays of hockey.

"The youth division was very exciting,” she said.

The youth final went to a shootout after Watson Lake forced the game to a tie with 3:56 left against the Gwich'in Braves.

The Braves then recorded three shootout goals to Watson Lake's two, to secure the final win.

"It was a really exciting shootout,” Vallevand said.

Goal scorers for the Braves were Riley Pettitt with two, and Bohdi Elias scored a goal and a shootout goal.

Sam Bosnik recorded a hat trick for Watson Lake, and also earned a shootout goal.

In the men's A final, the Gwich'in Flames were victorious in another tight game against the EGT Nanooks.

The Nanooks sparked things off in the first period by scoring two goals four minutes apart by Willie Mason and Tyler Stewart.

The game looked as if it was in the bag for the team, until the Flames replied in the second period with a goal off the stick of Jarvis Ducharme, assisted by Clayton Thomas and Rob Wells.

Following Ducharme, the Flames earned three goals in the third period to seal the win.

The Flames' final goals were scored by Gerald Desjarlais, Wells and Thomas.

"All the games were close,” Vallevand said.

The Gwitch'in Flames are made up of mostly Whitehorse players.

Vallevand said the tournamentis a great opportunity to bring communities and players into the games they don't usually get to play. Many of the teams pull together players from all over to fill up their teams.

"Some of the communities don't have enough players,” Vallevand said.

Another huge success of the tournament is the amount of fans that turn out to cheer on the teams.

"(You) see the stands packed all day Friday,” Vallevand said.

Those crowds stuck with the tournament through the weekend to Sunday's final games.

"It's great to see the stands packed and everybody cheering, even if their team isn't in it anymore. They're still cheering,” said Vallevand.

See tomorrow's edition of the Whitehorse Star for the tournament's award recipients.