Smooth skating, hard work and great team chemistry helped the Whitehorse atom development team find the perfect ending to a successful season this past weekend.

The Junior Mustangs returned home Monday from a tournament in Edmonton and in tow was a championship trophy, as well as gold medals draping from their necks.

The young athletes took on teams from Edmonton, Yellowknife and Fort St. John in the Tier II atom division of a minor hockey tournament in the Alberta capital. There were five tiers of atom hockey alone, plus pee wee, bantam and midget.

Whitehorse competed in the same atom tournament last year, placing second.

The Junior Mustangs won their first two round-robin games against the host city and Fort St. John before dropping their third to Yellowknife. But their 2-1 record was enough to earn them a trip to the gold medal final, where they were able to extract revenge on their territory rivals.

'In the round-robin, every team had at least one loss, so the matchups (in the finals) didn't really matter,' said Kerry Pettitt, one of the coaches of the team along with Jay Glass and Jeff Monkman. 'It was one of those tournaments where the team with the most consistency would take it.'

The gold medal game was a tough battle by all accounts, with Whitehorse claiming a 2-1 victory. Tyson Glass, who potted both goals for the Junior Mustangs in the final, said the competition was tough, but Whitehorse wanted it more in the end.

'We worked really hard and we handled the puck good,' he said.

Tyson described his first goal as a hard shot at the side of the net, while he buried his second goal through the five hole of the opposing goalie, after a nice pass from linemate Riley Pettitt.

'It was awesome, I felt really happy,' he said of the big win. 'We jumped up onto the goalie and piled up really hard.'

In fact, Whitehorse may have been a little too happy in the final seconds of the third period, as they began their championship celebration on the ice, down in the neutral zone with possession of the puck.

'Matthew McCarthy scored an empty-net goal when we were piled up at centre ice,' Tyson explained with a laugh. 'The referee waved it off because it was offside. We were all too excited.'

The Junior Mustangs can be forgiven though. After all, at nine and 10 years old, just starting out in what will hopefully be many more years of competitive hockey, it doesn't get much better than this.

'Oh, it was like a scene from a movie,' said Kerry of the winning celebration. 'There were gloves, helmets and sticks all over the ice.'

'It was like they won the Stanley Cup,' added Jay. 'It was just so amazing.'

In no particular order, said Kerry, speed, determination and the ability to come together as a team were the key factors in Whitehorse coming out on top. The second-year atoms really stepped up while the first-years possess a lot of talent for such a young age, he said.

'Technically (the entire team's) skating is very strong, especially compared to the average teams we're playing against. And our depth ... each line comes at you hard. Those are the comments we had from a lot of other coaches. It was the same thing in Kitimat (the tournament the atoms competed at earlier this year, where they went undefeated).'

The Junior Mustangs may also have been better prepared mentally than some of the other teams they faced, said Kerry. He said the coaching staff tried to keep their players from showing too much emotion during the game, keeping an even keel on the bench.

This year's atom group, he said, was very coachable.

'Puck support is a hard concept for a lot of people to understand, and that goes for players of all ages. Some guys just don't get it, others seem to learn it a lot earlier.

'We just threw it out there with these guys, just to see, and it made a world of difference. Our top line (Tyson, Riley and Wyatt Gale) picked it up right away. Then the rest of the team got used to it and it was hard for other teams to play against us.'

Kerry gave a lot of credit to the second and third lines on the team, pointing out the coaching staff was adjusting them throughout the season, trying to find combinations that worked. It can be tough as a player when you're always playing with different linemates.

'My hats off to them, they performed extremely well under those conditions.'

As usual, goaltending also played a large part in the tournament, although the shots on goal in the final were relatively low for both sides.

'The shots were 13-10 in our favour, so it was a pretty defensive game, lots of neutral zone break ups,' explained Kerry.

Jacob Alexander was in goal for Whitehorse in the championship game, although Alexander and Ty Edmonds split the duties on the trip, each playing two games.

Pettitt said the goaltending this season for Whitehorse has been a coach's dream because their both very strong. He said the coaching staff had no fear all season who they would start and the players had equal confidence in their masked men.

Alexander said the entire team played well during the tournament, passing a lot and working really hard, which made his job that much easier.

'I think I played my post right and stayed up a lot,' he said. 'I made some big saves when I had to, to keep the team in it.

'I think everyone did really good, it wasn't just one person that stood out.'

Tyson agreed with Alexander.

'We controlled the puck good and we were able to put the puck in the net,' he summed up. 'And we played strong defensively.'

Half of this year's atom development team will move up to pee wee next season where they will play more competitive hockey, with a shot at the B.C. provincial championship included in the mix. Coach Jay Glass is also looking at jumping to pee wee and helping with the rep team. Kerry and Monkman plan to stay with the atoms.

Tyson and Alexander said the Junior Mustangs had a very strong season and both are looking forward to pee wee action next year. Alexander said his time with the atom development team were very important.

'It helps us with our skill development and helps us with our next move. It gives us experience.'

'Our objective is to teach them how to practice in a rep practice environment,' added Kerry. 'There are stricter guidelines on the ice, more up-tempo drills. That's what's going to prepare them for competition in pee wee.

'Now they understand the commitment that's involved, how hard they have to work in practice. So when they go to pee wee, the pee wee coach had a leg up and a better start for his program. They can get right down to business.'

The following players competed in the Edmonton tournament and returned home with gold:

Jacob Alexander

Ty Edmonds

Mikey Arnold

Craig Berube

Braeden Paun-Burnett

Tyler Briemon

Ryan Chippett

Graeme Close

Wyatt Gale

Tyson Glass

Josh Harlow

Liam Janke

Matthew McCarthy

Willy Oulton

Riley Pettitt

Jared Steinbach

Austin Turner-Davis

Trevor Whynot