Sixty minutes. Not 40, not even 59. Sixty full minutes.

The Canada Winter Games boys hockey team played a good 40 minutes in their 9-4 loss against Whitehorse Midget Mustangs at the Canada Games Centre Saturday afternoon.

Team Yukon followed the game – an "intermittent” performance, according to head coach Jay Glass – with roughly 30 minutes of sprints.

Glass said he understands the difficulty in competing with bigger, older players.

"I don't expect that we're going to beat them, but what I do expect is that we have to compete for 60 minutes,” Glass said.

"We're just trying to get them ready for what they're going to face in Halifax, because we want to make a good showing there.”

Team Yukon will face off against Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories and Prince Edward Island in the round robin of the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax, N.S. in February.

The top two teams will advance out of the group, and for the Yukon to be one of those two teams they'll need to dig in for three periods, Glass said.

"For these guys to take anything away from the Canada Games, they have to know that they gave it their best effort,” he said.

"We've got to really turn the corner and make sure that we get 60 minutes of solid effort. It's about a total commitment to preparation, because again, that's what it's going to take for us to be anywhere near successful.”

This message likely sunk in with the players after the post-game sprints.

Fourteen-year-old Riley Pettitt agreed.

"I don't think we skated enough; we should have kept our feet moving more,” said Pettitt, who had a goal and an assist.

"We need to be more consistent … focus more and be more productive.”

Mustangs player Trevor Hanna scored a hat trick and an assist, Chris Vance had a goal and two assists and Adrian Hawking added a goal and an assist.

An odd note: there were no penalties called during the game.

"Today was a bizarre game,” Glass said. "There were no penalties. That's the first ever midget game I've seen where there had not been a penalty. And I'm not saying the ref didn't do a good job, he did, he just let them play and nothing got out of hand. We didn't get a chance to work on any special teams, but that's the way it goes.”

The Mustangs – who are first overall in the Whitehorse Recreational Hockey League – lost their seven first-year players who also play for Team Yukon.

Mustangs head coach Jim Stephens said the game helped the club's conditioning.

The Mustangs basically went with two lines, he noted.

"We're in way better shape now than we were at the start of this thing,” he said.

"The Canada Games kids, they skate hard, they're in good shape. They don't back off going into the corners, they compete hard for pucks, and a couple times out there tonight they could have had a couple more (goals). They're hard on the puck, hard on the rebounds. They're doing well.”

Saturday's game was the latest in a series of exhibition games between the two teams.

The Mustangs are undefeated against Team Yukon, which is missing key forwards Tyson Glass, Jared Steinbach and Scott Peterson.

Glass plays for the Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy in Kelowna, B.C., while Steinbach plays Bantam AAA in Alberta.

"A couple could have gone either way, so that's a good sign for the Canada Winter Games kids, and if they play hard in Halifax, maybe they can steal a couple games,” Stephens said.

Team Yukon's silver medal at the Richmond International Midget Hockey Tournament in B.C. over Christmas has helped in the club's development, Stephens added.

Glass said that his club's latest effort is simply a blip in their development.

"They know what needs to be done, so it's just a matter of execution,” Glass said.

The boys may not get another chance to play together as a team before heading east next month.

Glass is working on getting another game against the Mustangs and a game against the Pursuit of Excellence, which will be in Whitehorse to play the Mustangs starting Jan. 28.

The focus will continue to be playing hard for 60 minutes in order to steal some wins in the round robin.

"To do that it's going to take that full effort, and I think these guys are going to do it for us, I really do,” Glass said.

"Overall, this team's come along real well.

"We're asking them to compete always against bigger, stronger players and they've held up fairly well.”