There were enough bantam prospects to fill an additional bench at this past weekend's Mustangs spring ID camp.

Players from not just Whitehorse, but also Teslin, Watson Lake and Dawson City participated in the first two bantam sessions on Saturday and Sunday.

The Mustangs don't pick their teams until September, however the ID sessions will help give players an idea of what they have to work on in the off-season to better their chances at cracking the line-up of either the 'A' or 'B' team.

Seven goaltenders and 41 hockey players were in attendance at the bantam ID camp.

This was a pleasant sight for Whitehorse Mustangs bantam coach Jay Glass, who was encouraged by the high turnout.

"It just bodes well for next season and our program in general," Glass said. "There are some good peewees coming up and there are some good kids that just played bantam last year that look like they are going to be ready, so it is going to be a real competitive camp come September."

This is the first time the Whitehorse Mustangs Hockey Club has put on a spring ID camp. The camp began this past Thursday with the atom division and will conclude next Sunday with the bantams.

Other age groups include the peewees and midgets.

Each division will have four separate ice times, made up of drills and scrimmages. Two of the bantam and midget sessions will also double as identification camps for the 2010 Arctic Winter Games.

Tyson Glass, a first-year bantam Mustang this past season, said the weekend ID sessions went pretty well.

"These practices are really fun," he said. "I think our team is looking pretty good already for next year. We are all going to grow, get stronger and improve more over the summer and hopefully it will be better in the training camp. It's already looking good."

Tyson plans on following a training program in the summer and said his main focus is the 2010 provincials tournament. The provincials are hosted in B.C. every year in March.

Defenceman Matthew McCarthy said playing on the bantam Mustangs this past season helped him at the ID camp.

"I am a lot more comfortable out there being a second year," he said. "I just think this is going to be a good team."

The number of participants was an encouraging sign for Gage Preece, who hopes to make the 'A' team for a second straight year in September.

"There's so many kids out there and it's nice because you see a lot of kids that are coming up from peewee," he said. " It's nice to see the talent that is out there."