The Whitehorse Female Mustangs have returned home after taking a trip to Calgary to compete in The Canadian Tire Wickenheiser World Female Hockey Festival (Wickfest) midget tier-2 B division. The team had two wins, one loss and a tie in the round robin on their way to a silver medal.

The tournament is hosted by six-time Olympian Haley Wickenheiser, and is the ninth festival hosted in Calgary.

Although the team competes at the midget level, 16 and under, head coach Candice MacEachen says the team is made up of a lot of bantam girls playing up an age level.

In their first game of the tournament the Mustangs had their most lopsided victory of their weekend, defeating the GHC Midget Ignite 5-1. The team got two goals from Arnica Bulmer, while Kailey Smith, Jordan Macdonald and Ecko Kirk rounded out the scoring. Wynne Anderson-Lindsay backstopped the team in net during the tournament.

The Mustangs next played the SPS Fuzion Midget, the team they would eventually meet in the championship. The team lost 2-1 with Jordan Goeree supplying the lone goal.

In their third game the Mustangs tied the Prairie Storm Thunder 3-3. The team went down two goals in the first, but were able to score two unanswered, with goals by Bulmer and Orlina Menard. The Thunder replied to make it 3-2, but Bulmer leveled the scoring midway through the third to secure the tie.

The Mustangs’ division had five teams in it. Every team played each other once and the top two teams in the division went on to make the gold medal game. The Mustangs needed to win their fourth game for a shot at the championship.

In their fourth game the Mustangs prevailed over the Montana Big Sky Wildcats 3-1. The Wildcats scored first, but the Mustangs answered with two goals by Bulmer and the insurance marker by Macdonald, to set up a rematch with SPS Fuzion Midget in the gold medal game.

The Mustangs got on the board first in the game on an unassisted short-handed goal by Bulmer with 8:35 remaining in the first period. The one goal lead held up into the third period and that is when the Mustangs got into penalty trouble.

“We went up 1-0 on a short-handed goal and that held up until the last five minutes of the game,” said MacEachen.

“We took two penalties and had to go on a 5-on-3 penalty kill. They scored both their goals on the power play.”

The Fuzion scored with 2:55 remaining then again 17 seconds later to take the 2-1 advantage. With the game on the line the Mustangs battled hard to tie the game late.

“They (Fuzion) took a penalty with just over two minutes remaining,” said MacEachen. “We pulled our goalie and played them 6-on-4. We were able to generate a lot of offence and get a lot of shots, but they had a really good goalie. In the end we just ran out of time.”

The Mustangs lost 2-1, bringing home silver. MacEachen says the loss still stings for all the girls.

“It is tough for them right now to see what they accomplished,” said MacEachen. “The Female Mustangs haven’t medalled in a long time. I asked the girls when they last won a medal in female hockey and a lot of them said never. It will take them some time to realize what they accomplished.

“It is good to see how they developed. The way they are taking this loss shows their passion and compete by how much it bothers them. It has made them hungry to bring home the gold next time.”

MacEachen says she is proud of the girls in their efforts and the team camaraderie.

“I am very proud of how they improved and how close they are as a team,” said MacEachen. “We had two girls from Nunavut playing with us, because there isn’t enough girls to make a team out there, so they only play with the boys, and the team welcomed them in. It is an honour to coach these girls. They left it all out on the ice each game and represented the North so well.”

MacEachen sees more girls getting into hockey and hopes the silver will bring more girls out to play.

“Female hockey is growing a lot,” she said. “There are a lot of younger kids coming up. It is a growing sport and more and more girls are trying out. We are getting to the point where girls can no longer just expect to make the team because only 15 girls tried out.”

The Mustangs’ next games will be in the Arctic Show Case in Yellowknife the second week of December. They also wish to get one more away tournament in before the Canada Winter Games, which will be held in Red Deer, Alta. from Feb. 15 to March 3.