In preparation for the Arctic Winter Games, the Cinderwood Midget Mustangs hosted the Aldergove A1 Bruins for a three-game exhibition series this past weekend at the Takhini Arena.

The series was a warm-up for the local squad, who must learn to adjust to playing in front of a hometown crowd for the upcoming Arctic Winter Games.

They faced strong competition from the Bruins, a top tier two team from the Vancouver area.

In the first game of the series on Friday night, nerves got the better of the Mustangs and they suffered a 7-3 loss.

They bounced back in the remaining two games, rallying to win by scores of 4-1 and 4-2 on Saturday and Sunday.

Jay Glass, head coach of the Mustangs, said he expected the team to be tense in the first game of the series.

"We knew the boys were going to be nervous and they were,” he said. "We got down 3-0 by the end of the first period and it's always hard to come back from that, but we battled and made a game of it.”

The Mustangs were within a goal of tying things up with the Bruins when they trailed 3-2 but that's as close as they would get.

On Saturday night, the Mustangs proved their initial nerves had worn off, storming out to a 3-0 lead within the first five minutes of the first period.

The first three shifts of the game produced a goal and that balanced attack is one of the strengths of the team, said team captain Mike Hare.

"Our talent is spread across the lines,” he said. "Each line is able to produce and works well together.”

Glass said the Mustangs were also fuelled by a revised game plan and improved play from goaltender, Patrick Soprovich.

"We made some adjustments after game one,” he said. "We started matching the lines and tweaked our line up a little bit. Our goaltender also really started to play well and made some timely saves for us.”

The Bruins were able to get on the scoreboard but the Mustangs held their advantage and carried the early momentum to a 4-1 finish.

On Sunday afternoon, the teams met up to decide the winner of the series.

Hare said both teams were motivated to get the victory and the Mustangs wanted to prove their abilities.

"That first game stayed with us,” he said. "It's never good to start off losing against a team but after that we were more determined to come back and prove that we could play with those guys and beat them so it helped motivate us.”

The intensity for the final game was the highest it had been throughout the series.

"It was the closest game of all three,” said Hare. "Both teams were ready and wanted to win the series so it was the most intense with both teams hitting hard and playing hard.

"It was great to win it and take the series.”

The Mustangs had to adjust to the physical play as they are used to playing in the Whitehorse recreational league, which doesn't allow hitting.

Hare said the team is getting used to the contact with the more tournaments and exhibition series that they play.

"It's always a bit of an adjustment in that first game,” he said of adapting to the contact. "But we get used to it pretty quickly.”

With the Arctic Winter Games less than two weeks away, Glass said he feels good about the local team but is unsure about the competition they will face.

"We don't really know what we're going to be up against so we want to do our best and play without being nervous,” he said. "We're going to compete every game but we have no idea whether we will be a favourite or a underdog, it's always uncertain what teams will show up and how strong they will be.

"All we can do is play our game and hopefully we'll be in there at the end.”