In a back and forth contest for first place in Whitehorse Minor Hockey's Bantam League, Castlerock scored the game's final goal with just over one-minute remaining in regulation to go onto a 7-6 victory against the PeeWee Mustangs on Sunday.

This was an entertaining conclusion to a three-game series between the two teams, who each battled hard and showed a lot of adversity in refusing to give up. The Mustangs had won the previous two games by a score of 7-1 on Thursday and 6-3 on Saturday.

"We are pleased with the performance, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but the effort was there," said co-coach Jay Glass. "We are just happy overall with the kids and I thought it was a pretty good game both ways. Castlerock deserves a lot of credit, they played a good game."

It was the Mustangs who were first to get on the board in the contest, scoring in the opening frame on a scramble in front of the net after the initial shot was blocked by Castlerock goaltender Matthew Pollard. Ryan Chippett notched the goal at 14:15 in the period.

It didn't take Castlerock long to respond though and the team put in the equalizer not even five minutes later, scoring on a wrist shot from just inside the blue line that found the top corner of the net. The goal was scored by one of the team's pick-up players for their game against the PeeWee's.

After the second goal the Mustangs took control of the game, putting in three goals in less than three minutes to take a 4-1 lead into the first intermission. Goal scorers for the PeeWee's included two by Jared Steinbach and one scored by Gage Preece.

Despite the three-goal deficit, Castlerock didn't get discouraged and had a very strong start to the second period, opening it up with a goal in the first minute. Tyler Weins scored his first of the game on a low shot that slid past Mustang goalie Nigel Sinclair-Eckert. Castlerock didn't let up and the team put in three more goals before five minutes had gone by in the frame to take their first lead of the game. Goal scorers for Castlerock included Weins, Austin Smith and Desmond Blackjack.

The Mustang's slowly started to take over the play at the half way mark of the period, winning the battles and doing a great job cycling the puck in the offensive zone. The team also showed off their passing skills, which created all kinds of opportunities and forced Pollard to make a number of timely saves.

The added pressure eventually paid off for the peewee's, who tied the game up on a highlight reel goal, scored by Riley Pettitt. Pettitt roofed the puck top corner after being setup by an incredible drop-pass from Steinbach, who was the first player to make it to the puck after it was sent down the ice towards Castlerock's blue line.

The Mustangs didn't let up and took another lead into the intermission after Wyatt Gale scored with just over 30 seconds left in the period.

In the final frame, Weins notched another goal, scoring shorthanded at 15:42 for Castlerock and tying the game up at six.

After key saves made by both goaltenders, Castlerock would once again take advantage of their opportunities, scoring on the power play at 1:05 to take the one-goal lead. It was Weins fifth goal of the game.

The Mustangs battled hard to tie it back up, pulling their goalie in the final minute, but Castlerock held on to secure the impressive 7-6 come from behind victory.

Glass said the PeeWees didn't have a goal for the amount of games they wanted to win in the series, but was based more on the effort given by the players.

"We wanted to play well every game and we accomplished that," he said. "We thought that if we played well every game we might win two of them or we would have chance to win three and that's what happened."

He said the turning point of the game came after the team surrendered the three goal lead in the second.

"That is where we kind of lost our collective minds for a short period of time and they took the momentum," Glass said. "It was a one goal battle for the rest and the last one went in when we were shorthanded and that's the way it goes, but we probably lost that game in the first five minutes in the second."

Matthew McCarthy, a defenseman on the Mustangs, said he thought they played okay in the final game of the series.

"We had a lead and we didn't hang onto it," he said. "We just need to learn to hang onto those leads."

Tyson Glass is a forward on the PeeWee's. He said participating in a three-game series against a team like Castlerock helped with their preparation for February's tournament in Grand Prairie, Atl.

"I think every game helps when it comes to that," he said. "They have a lot of good players and they are hard to stop. If we are playing people who are fast and big, we'll improve a lot."

Tim Turner-Davis is the head coach of Castlerock. He said he was pleased with the way his team played in the game.

"When you are down 4-1 in the first period it is very easy to get down on each other and give up and instead they came back," he said. "This was a three-game set against the Mustangs and we lost the previous two, so for us to get away from that getting down on ourselves I really am very pleased with their performance."

Castlerock is currently one-point ahead of the peewee's for first place in the Bantam League with 22 points in total.

BATTLING IT OUT - PeeWee Mustang's forward Mike Arnold, right, chases down a loose puck in Castlerock's zone during a game on Sunday.