Jay Glass is taking over as head coach of the Whitehorse Midget Mustangs.

Glass, who was the Mustangs assistant coach last year, will be replacing outgoing head coach Jim Stephens, who is stepping back this year for personal reasons.

"I'm going to miss working with Jim,” Glass said. "He's been around for a long time and he's a good coach and I liked working with him. We'll miss him, we were hoping to have him back, but he just felt like it was time for him to move on and sort of passed the torch over.”

Glass was head coach for Team Yukon's boys hockey for the 2011 Canada

Winter Games in Halifax, N.S., the setting for the territory's first-ever win over a province, a 2-1 nail-bitter over Team Newfoundland and Labrador.

Glass was also head coach for the Bantam Mustangs previously.

"I've done in before, insofar as head coaching goes. It's a little bit more responsibility, but nothing new.”

The coaching change is especially important with the 2012 Arctic Winter

Games set to hit Whitehorse from March 4-10.

Team Yukon's hockey team won't be exactly the same as the Midget

Mustangs, Glass pointed out. But the majority of the midget players will make the Arctic Games roster, with the exception of available players signed with Outside clubs.

"This (Mustangs) team will be, for all intents and purposes, the Arctic Winter Games team,” Glass said.

"Obviously, the selection process has to be done separately and the team would maybe be slightly modified. But the bulk core of this team will be the Arctic Winter Games team and it's the exact same coaching staff. So there will be a lot of familiarity.”

The Mustangs will lose the services of last year's captain Chris Vance, forwards Lindsay Meikle and Trevor Hanna, and defenseman Adrian Hawkings and Travis Rivest.

Those five veterans help the Mustangs win bonze at last year's B.C. provincial championships.

Glass expects a strong group of players to come out for selection camp Sept. 8.

A portion of that strength will come with returning Mustangs as well as players in the Midget B program.

"There are some players that are out of town, and that's what the Mustang program encourages.

Once they hit midget, if they move on, we kind of feel like we've accomplished something. It's a good thing and a bad thing as well, because we lose that player. Then on the other side we get to develop another player,” Glass said.

"Whatever we end up with we'll be in good shape.”

The first Midget Mustangs training camp will take place at Takhini Arena from 8:15 p.m.-9:30 p.m. on Sept. 8.