The Whitehorse Castlerock Bantam Mustangs took a major step forward in preparing for the B.C. Hockey Provincial Championships after competing in their first AA tournament of the season.

At the tournament, held in late October, the Mustangs just missed qualifying for the semi-finals by one point, finishing in third place in their division.

'Every Whitehorse rep team's goal is to do well in the B.C. Provincial Championships,' said Jim Stephens, the co-coach of the Mustangs. 'What we are doing now is preparing the team in these preliminary tournaments throughout the year, so they can do well at provincials.'

The tournament was held in Kelowna over a three-day period. The Mustangs played four games in total, finishing with a record of 1-2-1. The first game was against the host team and despite the Mustangs keeping it a close game for the first half they ended losing by a score of 8-3. The Mustangs rebounded the following morning though, when they managed to play Calgary to a 3-3 draw. The same afternoon, the Mustangs built on the game against Calgary when they defeated Prince George by an impressive margin of 10-4. Unfortunately, the Mustangs lost their final game of the tournament to Langley 6-3, which ended up eliminating the team on the final day of competition.

Stephens said he was happy with how his team played at the tournament.

'When we were playing our game we were as good as any team in the tournament,' he said. 'We know we have a lot of work to do and the kids are putting in a really good effort for practice. They are an eager group of kids that want to learn and improve, so it has been a really good start to the season.'

Whitehorse rep teams have had a lot of a recent success at the provincials with two teams coming in second place in the last three years. Both teams were co-coached by Stephens and included the Bantam team three years ago.

'What we have shown the kids in Whitehorse is that if they work hard and prepare they can do well,' Stephens said. 'So I think a lot of the kids now who are playing in Whitehorse realize that they do have a legitimate chance at doing well in the provincial championships.'

The next tournament the Mustangs will compete in is being held in Comox on Nov. 10. This tournament will be a greater challenge for the Mustangs because it will feature AAA Bantam teams, but Stephens hopes the added experience will help build on their chances for a good finish at the provincials.

Trevor Hanna played left wing on the first line in the tournament. It was his first time competing in a Bantam AA tournament. Hanna was pleased with the team's performance in the tournament.

'I thought our team did pretty good,' he said. 'We started out with no outside experience and this gave us a lot of experience.'

Hanna, who finished the tournament with 12 points, said that despite the team's improvements, he thinks they won't do as well in Comox.

'I don't think we are going to do better because it is a higher level of tournament, so it's just about getting more experience.'

Henry Kedziora is a defenceman on the team. He said he thought the team wouldn't do as well in the Kelowna tournament because it was the first tournament of the season.

'We just need to get more games in,' Kedziora said. 'There is just not enough competition up here because we are a smaller community and not as populated as everybody else.'

He agreed with Hanna about the team finishing in a lower standing at the next tournament, but thinks they are a better team for playing in Kelowna.

'I think we'll play better, but we won't place as high just because it is a harder tournament,' Kedziora said. 'It's a learning experience.'

Both players thought the team was able to make overall improvements because of playing in Kelowna and they think the tournament allowed for both individual and team growth leading into the provincials, which will occur in March.