Success at the 2014 Arctic Winter Games wonʼt always come in the form of ulus for the Yukonʼs contingent of 260 athletes.

In 2012, Whitehorse hosted the event and collected 121 medals, second only to Alaskaʼs 190.

Some teams, such as the menʼs midget hockey squad, enter Fairbanks as the defending champions and will be looking to repeat.

"I think weʼve got a good squad,” team captain Craig Berube told the Star at a pep rally send-off held Friday night at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre. "A lot of guys have played together in the past when we were younger. Weʼve got some new guys too, that Iʼm looking forward to playing with.

"I think if we really gel as a team, then weʼve got a good shot at winning.”

But even as the territoryʼs hockey team has golden aspirations, other teams are simply looking forward to the experience.

"Weʼre a bunch of rookies,” said juvenile male soccer player Callum Wood Ryan. "So weʼre hoping to do our best and get some good experience out of this.”

Similarly, womenʼs basketball star Quynh Nguyen wasnʼt willing to set her hopes too high.

While the team enters Fairbanks as the defending champions, this yearʼs group is a young one that will need to outwork their opposition in order to find success, she said.

"We plan on playing hard, applying what we learned in practice, and come out strong,” Nguyen explained.

"Hopefully this will be a really good learning experience for all of us.”

Menʼs volleyball captain Kyle Wallace said his team fully intends to win a medal.

The Yukon won gold in 2012 over Alberta North.

Wallace said he expects Alberta North and Alaska to be their main competition in the coming week.

"I think we can definitely get top three, but I think weʼre shooting for first place,” he said Friday. "Hopefully we can do that.”

Meanwhile, the juvenile female soccer squad may eventually avenge its 2012 championship final loss to Alberta North, but thatʼs not exactly their goal heading into Fairbanks.

"Our goal isnʼt so much to place well, the score of the games doesnʼt matter,” captain Jamie McLeish explained. "What matters more is just playing good soccer and playing really well.”

Andrew Seal, a veteran skier on the Yukonʼs cross-country ski team, shared similar sentiments, but assured the team would try its best.

"Weʼve got some new skiers here – itʼs their first year skiing, so they just want to try their best and represent the Yukon as best they can,” he said.