The Bantam Mustangs, which features a core of players from last year’s BC Championship gold medal-winning peewee team, travelled to B.C. to compete in the Salmon Arm Tier 2/3 Tournament over the weekend.

The Mustangs are considered a Tier 3 team but head coach Derek Johnstone said they try and pencil in a couple of Tier 2 tournaments a year.

“Tier 2 is a little bit stronger,” said Johnstone. “It’s a good measuring stick for the group.”

Although the team went 1-3, Johnstone said he is seeing improvements from the players.

“We played pretty well,” said Johnstone. “It was tough competition. We wanted to see how they would respond. Having seen them this weekend, we are going to push them a little harder.

“They were matching up well. They are on the right track and showed improvements.”

The Mustangs’ biggest loss of the weekend came against Kelowna, a game they dropped 7-1.

Their other games were much closer, said Johnstone, who also noted that the team needs to find a way to close games out to the final buzzer.

“We were working better as a team and really are competing,” said Johnstone. “We need to become more consistent, do the little things right. They need to get stronger mentally in the last 10 minutes to close teams out.”

If the team shows more consistency Johnstone said the wins will come.

“They were close right up until the end,” said Johnstone. “They were really close to winning. If they get stronger mentally they should see more wins.”

New to many of the Mustangs who did not play spring hockey, checking is now part of the game.

“It really helped the ‘06 players,” said Johnstone. “The others it is going to take a while.”

In the teams’ lone win, they handled the contact well.

“It was a good contact game,” said Johnstone. “They didn’t shy away from it and played better for all three periods.”

For the Mustangs, it was their second tournament Outside and Johnstone said they need to use that experience to grow, especially with checking now in the mix.

“You don’t really get to play contact hockey here,” said Johnstone. “You really need to take it in while it’s there.”

Johnstone said through practice, the team will continue to improve.

“Every player wants to win and practices have a team focus,” said Johnstone. “We will continue to coach them how and when to take checks and look after their own end way better and see way better defensive play by the whole team.”

In the tournament, Johnstone said goalie Keiran Mooney played really well and by the next time they travel the team will be more help for him.

“He played really well, saw lots of shots,” said Johnstone.

The Mustangs’ next Outside tournament will be Dec. 7 in Penticton. There, Johnstone expects a much stronger team.

“We will see a better team,” said Johnstone. “The tournament will be another good measuring stick.

“Everyone is becoming more confident but there are still areas that need to get better. It really is a learning experience.”