The Whitehorse Bantam A Mustangs managed a strange feat late last month.

The group went undefeated in the round robin of the BCAHA Bantam Tier 3 Provincial Hockey Championships in Smithers – and were still eliminated.

The Mustangs opened with two games on the first day – a schedule no other team was forced to contend with – both 4-4 ties, the first against Whistler and the second against Terrace.

Scoring for the Mustangs were Wyatt Gale with two, Craig Berube and Chase Hobbis, who tied it up with 1:11 left to play.

"We usually come out a little bit slow in our first game, no matter what tournament we've been to,” Mustangs head coach Kirk Gale said, adding that there were 93 minutes in penalties given in the "timid” contest against Whistler.

The calls were so continual the Whistler coach had enough and was thrown out, Gale noted.

"Both teams really lost the flow, and we just couldn't capitalize. We had some chances and we didn't capitalize. …It was a game we were lucky to tie, but should have won.”

By contrast, the Mustangs were pleased to earn the 4-4 tie against eventual tournament winners Terrace.

Especially considering it was Terrace's first of the day and the Mustangs' second, Gale said.

"It was back and fourth, it could've went either way, but we were satisfied with the tie,” he said.

"We didn't lose a game after the first day, we were kind of happy with that, a little disappointed we didn't get a win in the first one, but we just moved on.”

Riley Pettitt, Jordan King, Kole Comin and Jarret Malchow dented the twine in the Mustangs' second game.

The Mustangs played to yet another tie in their third game, this time a 3-3 result against Revelstoke.

This one was more disappointing, Gale said.

"We should have won. We scored a goal that was taken away from us. In all aspects, it was a terrible call, but that's the way it goes. We had some chances, we had a couple breakaways we could have buried but we didn't. In that game we showed a lack of urgency; we had a 5-on-3 power play and we didn't even register a shot on net.”

The Mustangs got their first and only win in their fourth game, a 6-3 score line over Tri-Port.

Whitehorse tied Revelstoke in standings after the round robin with five points each, but the B.C. team advanced with two wins to the Mustangs' one.

"We were just getting better as the games progressed, we were starting to get a lot more flow on the bench and the guys were getting their legs. The rumor around the rink was nobody wanted to play us anymore because we were pretty deep and we were looking forward to moving on,” Gale said.

He added that everything was overshadowed by the poor officiating, not for or against any particular team – all around.

"It was a total disgrace in my opinion – and others' as well,” Gale said. "We kept our cool, we didn't get too frustrated with the refereeing, but it was something to behold.

It was the worst I've ever seen. Over the course of the week there was more than 800 penalties called. That seems a little bit on the high side.”