When Mike Young and Joe Martin accepted their new job in Creston, B.C., they were hopeful that a couple of fellow Yukoners would join them.

The former coaches of the Whitehorse Mustangs midget AA rep and 2007 Canada Winter Games male hockey teams moved to the Kootenay region this fall, after landing plum roles with the Creston Thundercats as co-coaches and general managers.

Prior to their departure, Young and Martin sent out letters to handfuls of local hockey players, inviting them to tryout for the junior B Thundercats in August. Nearly 10 of them made the trip, and when the regular season opened there were three of them on the roster defenceman Alex McDougall, forward Chris Gleason and Kevin Pike, who has played both forward and defence in recent years.

Forward Drew Pettitt has since joined the team, meaning there are a total of four now playing for their former Whitehorse coaches.

'A lot of our executive has been really impressed with these guys,' said Young, in an interview following practice earlier this week. 'And their teammates �- right away they really opened up to these guys.'

The Thundercats play in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, which consists of 15 teams in four divisions. So far, they sport a record of six wins, three losses and three overtime losses, for a total of 13 points. That puts them third in what Young said is a very tight division.

The top three teams in the division after 52 regular season games go to the playoffs and the top team gets a bye.

The Thundercats have a very strong forward core, with 11 returning players. That has meant more of a checking role up front for Pike, on the third and fourth lines. Young said Pike has had to make some adjustments, but is doing well.

'He understands his role. He's developing that and making an impact.'

Gleason, who was a leader on offence as a Mustang a couple of years ago, has struggled somewhat off the start, dressing for nine games and recording one assist. The coaching staff expects he'll come around.

'I don't think he showed up in the best of shape, which put him a little bit behind the eight-ball.'

Pettitt has one goal in four games after arriving from the East Coast, where he was hoping to play with a junior A team there. He ran into problems because he played major midget in Prince George last season. Under Hockey Canada rules, that means he must play his junior A or B hockey in British Columbia.

'Unfortunately for him, things didn't work out in the East,' said Young. 'Hockey Canada denied his inner branch transfer. So he came to us. We're going to try to get him affiliated with a junior A team right away. Hopefully they'll consider him.'

'Either way, he's going to be playing hockey and developing, and helping us out big time too.'

If the Thundercats have a hole in their lineup, it's on defence, where only two are returning from last year.

'We would like to get one more solid defenceman,' admitted Martin. 'But the problem is they're not just on E-Bay. It's hard to find them.'

MacDougall has nine points from the blueline in 12 games and has been a top performer for the team. In fact, Young says other coaches are consistently asking about the young athlete, who was captain of Team Yukon at the Canada Games.

'They're all asking, Where did you get this guy?''

Once the defencemen have had some time to gel, both coaches expect to have a very strong team. They've been very impressed with the goaltending of starter Wade Waters.

'Our starter (Wade Waters) is unreal,' stated Young. 'We're really hoping a junior A team doesn't pick him up.'

Now the key for the coaches is to get everyone focused on their defensive play and special teams. While it's early in the season, Martin emphasized every point right now is crucial, in order to maintain a top-three spot in the division and not fall behind.

'We really need to tighten up in our own end,' said Young. 'Our power play �- we want it to be up around 25 per cent. Our (penalty kill) is doing really well.

'It's very crucial to be focused every game, which we're having trouble with so far.'

Last year, Creston finished with an overall record of 24-24-2, which was enough to get them into the playoffs. This year, Young doesn't think that will be enough.

'We need to clean up our home record (2-2-1),' offered Martin. 'It's 500, but your home record should always be better.'

The duo has also been happy with the hometown support. Creston, Young said, likes their hockey and keeps it serious. In a small town, the team is very much in the public eye, something which can be both positive and negative for young players.

'You have to stay focused and worry about what you can do to win games, instead of worrying about what everyone else is saying and expecting.'

So far, everything seems to be working fairly well.

'This is a great team,' stated Young. 'We can beat any team in the league, so we're pretty happy with it overall.'

NOTES: The Thundercats aren't the only team in the KIJHL to boast Yukoners�-forward Evan Campbell is suiting up for the Nelson Leafs (8-2-2), where he has three goals and six assists in nine games�-meanwhile goaltender Ian Perrier has played four games so far for the Chase Eagles (8-4-1), recording three wins and one loss�-he sports a goal against average of 2.83.