Justin Saunders has been sharp finding the back of the net.

The Yukon Brewing Lead Dawgs forward is helping to lead his team out of their group at the 2010 World Broomball Championships currently underway in Innsbruck, Austria.

Saunders' four goals and two assists – good enough for tournament scoring leader thus far – will likely propel the Whitehorse club out of their group in the mixed category of the 37-team international event, which also offers men's, women's and masters' categories.

The Lead Dawgs need a win tonight against Australia and are currently awaiting the final score of New Brunswick's final group game to see how they'll fair after the group stage.

As of the Star's deadline, the Lead Dawgs were atop their group with seven points after four games. New Brunswick is second in the group with six points after three games; but even if the east coast club wins their game the Yukoners should still get through on goals scored, said Milford Allain, president of the Yukon Broomball Association.

Most recently the team downed past tourney champs, the Ontario Wildcats, 4-2 in a game which had the Lead Dawgs kill off three first-period penalties, swinging the momentum.

The following game pitted the Yukoners against a tough Italian club, which ended in a 0-0 tie after the officials made a controversial call that deprived the Lead Dawgs a goal.

Getting past the group stage would mean the Lead Dawgs would qualify for a shot at the coveted World Cup.

The only other time the club competed at worlds, in 2008 in Burnaby, B.C., it failed to qualify for the World Cup but won silver in the Challenge Cup, which is competed for by the bottom two teams in each group.

This time around, however, the Lead Dawgs are shaping up much better, with three wins and a tie and 13 goals for and two against.

The Yukoners opened the tournament with a 1-0 win over Japan, who had snatched gold from the Lead Dawgs in the 2008 Challenge Cup finals.

"So it was nice redemption,” said Allain, who is acting as a liaison for the club.

The Lead Dawgs followed up their opening win with a convincing 8-0 win over Switzerland.

In the previous worlds, the Yukon managed four total goals, Allain pointed out.

"I think the big turnaround has been the offense this time around,” he said. "The league sent some really talented forwards this time; they've got probably four of the top 10 goal scorers from Yukon broomball this time, whereas last time they didn't have that firing punch.”

Helping Saunders find the twine is Chris Nash, who has notched three goals and three assists so far.

The Lead Dawgs will carry their momentum into their final group game against Australia tonight.

"They want to qualify for the World Cup, the top four teams,” Allain said. "Anywhere in the top four they'll be really happy with.”