It has been awhile, eight years, since a Yukon broomball team has gone to the world championships. That will all change over the weekend as Yukon broomball will be sending a mixed (male and female) team to the International Federation of Broomball Associations (IFBA) World Championships in Blaine, Minnesota.

The championships are held every two years; in the past team Yukon has competed in Burnaby, British Columbia in 2008, where they sent two teams. In 2010 a mixed team was sent to Innsbruck Austria to compete in the worlds.

The Yukon Lead Dawgs head coach Scott Smith says the style of play between the two continents is much different, but the lessons learned from past tournaments will come into play as they prepare to compete.

“A lot of soccer players over there (Europe), a lot of soccer players who are new to the sport, they are very fit,” said Smith. “The North American game is less of a running game and more of a possession game. It’s more running but we are trying to adapt our game, it’s slowly happening.”

Tuesday was the team’s last practice in Whitehorse before making the trip to Blaine. The team has a balance of veteran and youthful experience, but the challenge leading up to the tournament has been building team chemistry.

“Some of this team has been to world and national events,” said Smith. “But none of all have played together in a big tournament. There are a lot of young players, about 50 per cent, which is good for our league because they get exposed to this tournament and this caliber of play. They are fit and they are competitive.”

The team will have one more opportunity to practice Monday in Blaine, before the tournament’s start Tuesday. The team will play two 36-minute games a day, which according to Smith will be a whole different level of intensity for his team. Despite some of his team’s inexperience, Scott likes his team’s chances, but appreciates the level of competition they are about to experience.

“We are hopeful we are going to measure up,” said Smith. “The teams we will be playing will have played together for years and are quite polished in their systems and will capitalize on any of the mistakes. We play a slightly different style, hopefully it may catch them off guard.”

Lead Dawgs captain David Stehelin, will be participating in his first worlds, and his first tournament outside of the Yukon. Although slightly nervous, he is anticipating a good showing from the team.

“I am a little nervous, some of the guys who have been to events before have really been talking the competitive nature of the games down there up a lot,” said Stehelin. “The skill level is going to be high, but we are young and athletic and I think that will help us make up in differences in skill level.

We will win games and the goal is always to win gold. We are looking for a good showing, don’t embarrass ourselves and build on that for the next one in two years.”

Roxanne Stasyszyn who plays defence will also be participating in her first world championships and she is thankful for the veteran players who have gone through the grind before.

“We have some veteran leadership, thank goodness,” said Stasyszyn. “Everyone I have talked to who has gone before said competition is tough, that they play really tight D and strong offence, we will have to do the same. We will have to tighten that D, which is daunting for me as a defensemen and hopefully we can find a hole in that net.”

Heading into the tournament Stasyszyn is feeling confident and believes the string of practices the team has had recently has helped them gel.

“I think we are as good as we are going to get before we head down,” said Stasyszyn. “It’s a bit odd because we all play on different teams at the Yukon Broomball Association, so it’s been fun learning each others style from the same side of the ice. In the last couple weeks in particular we have been practicing really hard and we have really started to come together as a team.”

To match the veterans on the team, there is a lot of youth. Both Stehelin and Stasyszyn say that this tournament can be one of the first building blocks in developing a team that can consistently compete on the world stage. As well it will help grow the sport in the Yukon.

As the tournament draws nearer, the coach and the captain shared a similar message to the team, as they prepare for their upcoming matches.

“There is going to be a mixture of messages,” said Smith. “It’s about being responsible for your position, but try and enjoy it, because it goes by pretty quick. We will see how they like it and make adjustments off of that.”

“I think it’s going to be a good time,” said Stehelin. “There is going to be countries from all over the world, but we just want to go and represent the Yukon and be good representatives of people from the territory. It’s going to be maximum effort all the time, but win, lose or draw; we are there to have fun at the end of the day.”