The fairytale season for the Whitehorse Bantam AA Mustangs came to an end on Thursday night, just an inch shy of their final goal.

The Mustangs, who were touted as the strongest minor hockey team to come out of the Yukon in nearly two decades, became just the second team from the territory to play in a final at the B.C. provincial championships.

But they fell short in the gold-medal game, losing 4-2 to the South Okanagan, and returned home with silver.

'There were a lot of penalties, which took away from the flow of the game,' said head coach Mike Young, in an interview after the final. 'The refereeing took a lot of the flow away. But you still have to fight through that.

'The other team got three power play goals and we ended up getting one.'

The South Okanagan goaltender also made a number of big saves to keep Whitehorse from getting any closer, but that's not to take anything away from Mustang's goalie Ian Perrier, who kept the local squad in the game.

Mustang's captain Drew Pettitt agreed the penalties killed them in what was otherwise a very close game.

'The reffing could have been a little better,' he said. 'OK, maybe a lot better.'

The game ended on a sour note for Whitehorse, when people in the crowd began throwing food and drinks both on the ice and at the Mustangs.

While the offenders were forced to clean up after the mess, Pettitt said it really upset him and the rest of the players.

Still, Pettitt said the bantams are proud of what they accomplished at provincials.

'There's mixed emotions. I'm happy and mad at the same time. We're really proud of what we did, but also, we know we could have won. We gave it everything we had.'

Young said even though the Mustangs didn't win gold, they still gained a lot of respect at the tournament and the silver medal was a good thing for hockey in the territory.

'Now, any team that goes down to provincials won't be taken lightly,' he said.

Young said if you look at the amount of tournament experience South Okanagan has compared to Whitehorse, and how many people in the region they have to draw from, the local players should be extremely proud of their performance.

Despite the fact the Mustangs had played five games in four days, the coach ruled that out as a factor in the final.

He said the players get so fired up once they hit the ice, fatigure doesn't matter at all. And he was able to rotate three or four lines throughout the tournament to conserve energy.

The big goals in the tournament came from a different player almost every game, which took a lot of pressure of the top scorers.

'I knew a lot of guys know how to bury the puck, going down there,' said Young. 'It's just a really good feeling when it all comes together.'

Young was especially proud of first-year bantam Jaxon Glass, who really picked up his play at the tournament.

Glass had three goals in the last three games before Thursday's final, all of which were 'really big' markers.

'Our whole team stepped up their game,' said Pettitt. 'Everyone played exceptionally well. Our goaltender, Ian, played really well. He kept us in a bunch of games. Everyone worked really hard.'

There was some concern with Perrier heading into provincials, as he suffered a groin injury less than two weeks before during a practice. But Young said he seemed fine from the start of the tournament in Terrace and never looked back.

'When a team sees a goalie can make big saves like that, it picks the rest of the team up,' he said.

The Mustangs were unfortunately still affected by injury at the championships after Kane Dawe broke his collarbone in the second round-robin game, forcing him to watch from the stands for the rest of the games. Young said if he could have done anything different at the tournament, he wouldn't have put Dawe out on that one shift because he's such a valuable asset.

'For sure, he would have been a big factor coming down to the final game.'

Still, it was a great experience for all of the players and the coaches Young is just in his first full season as a coach.

'Everyone learned to win this year and it was a lot of fun. We're still pretty happy with the results overall. It was still a winning experience for these guys.

'They're pretty proud at the end of the day. They tried their hardest and there were no regrets.'

Next up for a few of the bantams is the B.C. Best Ever tournament, where they will represent Northern B.C. against the other zones in the province.

Pettitt, Perrier, Ted Stephens and Lowell Johnston will attend the tournament, which takes place in early April.

Nearly all of the bantams are the right age for the 2007 Canada Winter Games teams as well. The ID Camp for the Games will be held the third week in April in Whitehorse.

Meanwhile, both the midgets and pee wees, who were playing in Quesnel and Osoyoos respectively, returned from the provincial championships without a win in five games.

The midgets lost their last game on Friday to Elk Valley, 9-6.