The Hay River Huskies Peewee Tournament recently attracted five hockey teams, including the home squad.
Out-of-town teams came from Yellowknife, Fort Smith and Fort Simpson for the Feb. 14-16 tournament.
Photo courtesy of Hay River Minor Hockey
The Fort Smith Hawks emerged victorious by defeating the Yellowknife Aurora Storm in the championship game.
The Huskies played Yellowknife Overlander Outlaws in the bronze medal game, which was won by the visitors.
"We lost in overtime," said Janelle Beck, the Peewee director for Hay River Minor Hockey and the main organizer of the tournament.
"We usually make it to a medal game, for sure," she noted. "It was a really good game. That was the second game that we lost in overtime."
Beck was pleased with the overall event.
"It was a very fun tournament," she said. "And from what I'm hearing from everyone, they had a great time. I got some texts from the coaches saying it was a great weekend. And competition was great. It was pretty well matched."
Peewee hockey is for players 11 and 12 years of age.
Hay River usually hosts a Peewee tournament in February.
Beck noted that normally more than five teams attend, but teams from northern Alberta have not been attending in recent years because they are involved in league play with the All Peace Hockey League.
"High Level couldn't come because that was during their league games," she said.
It used to be that teams would occasionally come from the Alberta communities of Rainbow Lake, La Crete and Grimshaw
"It's been a while since we had them from there," said Beck.
Because there are only 15 Peewees in Hay River Minor Hockey, the only chance they get to play as a team is at tournaments.
The team travelled to a tournament in Yellowknife in December and another in Fort Smith earlier in February.