The Total North Female Mustangs travelled to Alberta to attend the Okotoks Female Hockey Classic which featured 52 other teams.

Mustangs coach Dan Johnson said the team went into the tournament without expectations other than to have fun.

"Competing in the Atom division, the girls were faced with playing their first games as a team in a tournament atmosphere," said Johnson.

The girls responded well and went undefeated through the round-robin and the final, which they won 5-1 to secure gold.

Johnson said the team will consider moving up a tier for their next tournament but because of the roster makeup, it may make moving up a challenge.

"We may need to adjust their tier," said Johnson. "It's real tough because we have some top tier players but we also have girls that are two years underage. It's tough to find tournaments to balance that."

The line made up of the novice players, Makena Johnson, Taiya Joss and Taliyah Ewing were nicknamed the "Smurf line" because they weren't very tall and the team's jersey colour was blue, explained Johnson.

Getting experience in a tournament atmosphere will only help their development as hockey players, said Johnson.

"In three years, when they are second-year atoms they will be forces," said Johnson.

It was not the start the Mustangs would have liked to have had in their first game. Playing the hometown Okotoks Gold club, the team got down 2-0 three minutes into the contest.

"The girls were so nervous," said Johnson. "Then they got a goal and settled down."

In net, Lily Sallis-Clark shut the door as the Mustangs found their stride and mounted a comeback. The game opened up again and it was a back-and-forth contest until the end.

The Mustangs got four goals from Sophie Drummond and won the game 8-6. For her performance, Drummond was given game MVP and the Mustang Mucker cowboy hat which is awarded to someone who had "a gritty, hardworking performance." The Smurf Line shared in the honours.

In their Friday evening tilt, the Mustangs played the Calgary Inferno and dominated. The team won 4-1, and Johnson said the score could have been higher but the Inferno goalie played exceptionally well.

Johnson said Kasey Mckenna made her presence known with a couple of goals and earned the game MVP distinction. Lucy Peart earned the Mustang Mucker hat.

The Mustangs carried the momentum from their second game into their contest against the Okotoks Green squad. They went up 2-0 early before Okotoks got one back. That's when the Mustangs stepped on the gas.

Johnson said Ella Johnston was a true force and brought the crowd to its feet with end-to-end rushes, which resulted in one goal. As well, she always fought hard to get back on defence.

Johnston earned game MVP. June Grantham battled on defence, winning the puck-battles to earn the Mustang Mucker. Honourable mention for MVP was Kaila Miller, who potted a goal and Peart scored her first goal as a Mustang.

Going undefeated in their first three games earned the Mustangs a berth in the finals. The team had to show resiliency as the Okotoks Gold, the team they played in their first game, scored 15 seconds in.

Johnson said the team began to tilt the ice back into their favour and tied the score 1-1 after the first frame.

"It was 1-1, and they couldn't crack that egg but they were getting chances," said Johnson.

Johnson said goalie Sallis-Clark, who was awarded the Mustang Mucker for her performance, came up huge for the squad with timely saves to keep the game even.

In the final frames, the Mustangs potted four unanswered goals to win gold 5-1. Defence partners Danica Johnson and Maya Bulmer were both awarded MVP honours for their "dazzling rushes and rock-solid defensive play."

Winning the tournament was great, said Johnson, but he was most impressed with the team's game-to-game improvements.

"From game one to game four, the players started and ended as different players," said Johnson.

He said the play of Mckenna was a good example of this.

"Kasey Mckenna went from good to a force," said Johnson. "She realized how good she really is and it took her one rush to realize that."

Skill-wise, Johnson said the team is really strong and that learning team concepts is the next area of growth for the players.

"We haven't had a team practice," said Johnson. "We had to coach in-game and they were like sponges. As this group moves along, we need to work on team concept stuff, like penalty kill, power play and defensive zone coverage."

Because of the team's play, Johnson said the group was the talk of the rink.

"The team put their stamp on the tournament with people talking about them all around the rink, especially when they learned the group had four underage players and still managed to come through," said Johnson.

"All in all, it was a very good experience for a great group of girls and a sign of growth and momentum happening in the Yukon for female hockey."

As a coach, Johnson said, this was the closest team he has seen, and he found the older players were excellent role models for the underagers.

"Our top five are nice to have and good for the younger girls to look up to," said Johnson. "This is one of the closest groups I've coached, they were all-inclusive and not a clique amongst them.

"It's cool to watch because they care. They don't want to let each other down on the ice."

As the team moves forward, Johnson said, they have asked the girls for new team name ideas to "distinguish ourselves as our own group."