Yukon Native Hockey Tournament can't actually get much bigger

It's one of the biggest sporting events of the year in Whitehorse.

In fact, the Yukon Native Hockey Tournament can't get much bigger, says one of the organizers.

"I think we're at capacity. It would be great if we got another arena," said Michelle Dawson-Beattie, president of the Yukon Native Hockey Association. 

"It would be great to see it grow a bit more. But in terms of like the infrastructure capacity ... I don't think Whitehorse has it right now."

This year's tournament, which began Thursday and ends on Sunday, features 59 teams. That's the most ever, in the tournament's 45-year history, Dawson-Beattie said, and that's after two teams had to drop out. Teams and players come from across the Yukon, N.W.T., B.C. and Alberta.

Dawson-Beattie said it's a huge undertaking to organize the event, and she says this will be her last year.

"It does take a village and, you know, we're just happy to see it start paying off," she said.

"I just feel, you know, I've taken it and I've tried to grow it as much as I can. And sometimes, you know, you have to let somebody else come in and take over and see how far they can take it."

Jenna Smith from Alberta is playing in the tournament for the first time this year. her husband has come in the past but he couldn't make it this year, she said.

"I've always wanted to come travel up here. I've heard like the landscape is so beautiful, but he's just told me it's a really good time," Smith said, just after getting off the plane earlier this week.

"And now that the women's division has been going for a couple of years, [I'm] hoping it's pretty good, competitive hockey. It should be fun."

Live online coverage

This year, for the first time, some of the games will be streamed live online, so family and friends back home can catch some of the action happening at Takhini Arena.

Dan Little is with Ptarmigan Creative, the production company that's providing the live online coverage. He says the company came up with the idea after doing something similar at a skiing and snowboarding event at Whitehorse's Mount Sima last year.

"And we just got talking about other sporting events that happen in town, and Yukon Native Hockey Tournament came to mind right away," he said.

"And we're like, we gotta do it ... it's so big, it deserves that kind of attention."

The company was aiming to broadcast eight games a day for each of the four days of the tournament. The plan was to do "kind of like Olympic coverage," Little said.

"So we're going to have five camera angles, live commentary, slow motion replay, graphics — the whole works."

The company also partnered with the Yukon Native Language Centre to provide some Kaska-language play-by-play commentary for some of the games.

Dawson-Beattie also has some advice for anybody looking to watch some of the action in person at Takhini Arena or the Canada Games Centre this weekend: carpool.

"'Cause parking here, as I'm sure everybody knows, can be a nightmare," she said.