SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Nahanni Inn Flyers from Fort Simpson have proven it has what it takes to go head to head with any team in the territory.

The Flyers took first place in the A division at the First Air Tournament in Yellowknife. A total of 40 teams from across the NWT and Nunavut competed in the tournament in five divisions from April 1 to 4.

Brett Peppler, left, of the Nahanni Inn Flyers gets ready to move the puck while teammate Owen Rowe waits for the pass. The Flyers took first place in the A division at the First Air Tournament in Yellowknife. - Tim Edwards/NNSL photo

The Flyers went undefeated in their division, picking off Yellowknife teams Weaver and Devore 6-2, Subway 5-0 and Private Sky 5-0.

In the semi-finals the Flyers beat the Diavik Chiefs 6-1 to advance to the finals to face Ace Enterprises.

The Flyers won the game 6-1. The win was a vindication for the team, which took second place in the A division last year after losing to Rankin Inlet.

"We had a very good team," said Owen Rowe, the Flyer's captain.

In addition to Rowe the team included six players from the Deh Cho - Chris Stipdonk, Travis Hanna, Danny Ragan, Jarret Hardisty, Liam Hardisty and Josh Campbell as well as Shaun DeMarke from Hay River, Mickey Ipana and Tim Gordon from Inuvik and Keegan Hnatwik from Yellowknife.

The team's goalie, Andy Williams, was also picked up from Yellowknife. The remainder of the team was rounded out by four players from outside the territory including Clint Stevens, Davis Baroldi, Brett Peppler and Steve Pratt.

"Everyone played together well," said Rowe.

The team was almost identical to the one that played last year. The difference was that the players were in a lot better shape having played right up to the tournament instead of being a few weeks out of practice, Rowe said.

"We had a lot more flow," he added.

Although the Flyers won each game by large margins Rowe said they were all challenging.

"The biggest thing we had going for us was speed," Rowe said.

Andy Williams also provided solid goaltending, he added.

This isn't the first time the Flyers have walked away with the tournament win. The Flyers won the A division in 2005 and the B division in 2007.

Apart from the win, one of the highlights of the tournament was the fact Fort Simpson sent two teams, said Rowe.

The village also fielded the Sub Arctic Eagles in the C division with 12 local players. It's a testament to recreational hockey in Fort Simpson that the village can send two teams, Rowe said.

Although the village has a strong men's recreational hockey league it's still necessary to pick-up players from other communities to be able to compete against Yellowknife teams that consistently play at the A level, he said.

In the C division the Sub Arctic Eagles played three round robin games losing 4-1 to the Yellowknife teams of Ryfan and 5-2 to J. Carey. The team also lost to Gjoa Haven 7-3.

"The team was happy with the effort and the opportunity to play more games before the season ended," said Chris Hewitt, the team's captain and coach.

The Eagles faced some tough competition but the members enjoyed playing teams from the rest of the territory, he said. Hewitt singled out the Eagle's goalie Sheldon McKay for praise.

"Strong goaltending from him kept us in a lot of the games," said Hewitt.

"The boys played as hard as they could and Sheldon kept us in there when he could."

The Fort Providence Bulls also represented the Deh Cho at the tournament.

The Bulls played in the A division. Starting in the A pool the Bulls lost their first game against Ace Enterprises 4-1 before beating Rankin Inlet 5-1 and deadlocking the Diavik Chiefs 5-5.

The team narrowly missed entering the semi-finals where they would have played their season rivals the Flyers. The Bulls and the Diavik Chiefs both had one win, one loss and one tie in the round robin but the Chiefs had scored once more, which allowed them to move forward.

Despite not advancing the players felt the team did alright, said Mike Krutko, the Bull's captain.

"It was a good weekend," he said.

It was the first loss that put the Bulls behind. The players hadn't been on the ice for four weeks so everyone was "scrambling," Krutko said. The team clicked in the second game and was playing well by the third.

Krutko said players from both the Bulls and the Flyers were disappointed that the teams didn't meet on the ice to settle the season rivalry.