Whitehorse Daily Star

Image title

Photo by Photo Submitted

GOOD SHOW – The Atom Mustangs celebrate their silver medal win in Richmond, B.C., on Monday. Photo courtesy of COPPER TOM TOM

Image title

Photo by Photo Submitted

WITH AUTHORITY – Huss Breithaupt, left, wins a faceoff at the Spring Classic tournament in Richmond, B.C. Photo courtesy of COPPER TOM TOM

Atom Mustangs’ season ends with silver lining

The Whitehorse Atom Mustangs have had a tough season.

By Freelancer on March 20, 2015

The Whitehorse Atom Mustangs have had a tough season.

Going down to Richmond, B.C., for the Spring Classic tournament there last weekend saw the young Mustangs team at 0-16 in tournament play.

With the return of only four full-time Mustangs from last year’s team, this year’s squad was comprised of many new – and inexperienced – faces.

However, you don’t go 0-16 without learning a few things, such as:

  1. Believe in yourselves;
  2. You’re a better team than the record shows; and
  3. Good things come to those who work hard.

This Atom Mustangs team took these lessons of hard knocks to heart and decided amongst themselves that their losing ways were behind them.

The four veterans proved pivotal over the weekend.

Ty Beacon and Huss Breithaupt played both games on Friday but missed the Saturday morning game due to illness.

While both were not 100 per cent all weekend, they each earned most valuable player awards in hard-fought games as they played on for the rest of the tournament.

Noland Matthews earned MVP in the gold medal game with an impressive effort that was second to none. And Josh Schenk battled hard on the offensive side of the games all weekend long. These efforts seemed to rub off on the newer boys and the compete level was up all weekend.

Many other young players stood out too. Johnny Timmons, Hunter Long, Carson Fraser and Ryder Twardochleb – to name but a few – all put in great performances.

The two young goalies, Ben Power and Alex Arsenault, put together some of their best goaltending this year, keeping the team in the game on many occasions.

What stands out however is the decision, conscious or not, to play not as a group of individuals all racing toward the net to score, but rather, to play as a team.

Leaving the defensive zone as a team ... getting set up in the offensive zone and working the power play as a team ... neutral zone backchecking and making entry into their end hard ... as a team.

The shift in a nine-year-old mind from individual to team is not an easy process to achieve. While difficult, these are some of the fundamental building blocks coaches Trevor Matthews, Dave Larkin and Guy Gorrell have worked steadily on over the year.

Fast forward to Monday afternoon. The Atom Mustangs have now won three games, lost one and tied one and they find themselves playing for gold.

A tough schedule has seen them all rise at 5:30 a.m. for the past three mornings in order to get to the rink on time.

The spirits are high and the smiles are, how do you say... Larger than Life.

The game is hard-fought and spirited. The Mustangs never gave up for a single shift but in the end they lose the game 5-0.

As coach Matthews stated after the tournament had ended: “The boys played with an intensity that we, as coaches, were looking for all year long. In each of the six games this weekend, the boys became more and more aware of the value of moving the puck together, of setting up in the offensive zone and working together to get the best possible shots at the net.

“The improvement over the year was never more noticeable than what we saw this weekend. All the coaches are very proud of what the boys achieved.”

Even with that loss comes a real sense of satisfaction. The squad believed they could do better and they did better.

They believed in themselves and what they could accomplish together as a team.

As this season began to wind down the boys experienced a difficult learning curve. They experienced consecutive losses that might have brought a lesser team to the point of giving up.

But not these boys.

The Atom Mustangs lined up proud and eager to receive their well-deserved silver medals.

At the end of the day, despite all the difficulties, through hard work and perseverance, the boys experienced a season with a silver lining.

By COPPER TOM TOM
Special to the Star

Be the first to comment

Add your comments or reply via Twitter @whitehorsestar

In order to encourage thoughtful and responsible discussion, website comments will not be visible until a moderator approves them. Please add comments judiciously and refrain from maligning any individual or institution. Read about our user comment and privacy policies.

Your name and email address are required before your comment is posted. Otherwise, your comment will not be posted.