The Whitehorse Midget Mustangs head Outside for hockey tournaments plenty.

The time and expense which comes from isolation makes securing home-ice advantage that much more rare.

But it does happen.

This year, the Mustangs will welcome a Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy team out of Kelowna in a three-game series this weekend.

The first game starts Friday at 9:30 a.m. at the Canada Games Centre. The action continues at 7:15 p.m. Friday at Takhini Arena and 8:30 p.m. Saturday again at Takhini.

The Pursuit of Excellence will also play a bonus exhibition bout against the Canada Winter Games (CWG) boys at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at the Canada Games Centre.

Admission will be based on donation, with a 50/50 draw and silent auction during the game.

The Mustangs – which boasts having seven CWG players on their roster – recently hit a three-game losing skid in the Whitehorse Recreational Hockey League after securing first place.

"As soon as we got into first then we went on our losing streak, but that happens throughout the season,” Mustangs head coach Jim Stephens said.

"I think it'll be a good game, a good competition for us. They'll be well coached; they play a lot of games. With their program they're on the ice everyday, training everyday, so technically they'll be good.”

Stephens added that the Mustangs special teams have been letting the club down as of late.

"Our power play's been working pretty good for the most part throughout the year, so I guess you're bound to run into some tough stretches,” he said.

"We've given up some short-handed goals on our power play, so we need to get that out of our system. Hopefully that goes away. A lot of it is what they call puck luck, and every team goes through stretches where everything's working and stretches where you're not getting the bounces. I think that'll turn around for us.”

Players to look out for include the team's leading scorer Chris Vance, as well as fellow third-year players Trevor Hanna and Travis Rivest, while Adrian Hawkings and Lindsay Meikle are stalwarts defensively.

"Right through out lineup, all these kids are playing well this year,” Stephens said.

Fans may also recognize Pursuit of Excellence player Tyson Glass, who also plays for the CWG boys.

"That helped make the connection,” Stephens said.

Glass's connections helped bring the Kelowna club north, Stephens said.

"They're a good team and they run a good program down in Kelowna,” he said, adding of the Western Hockey League game to be played between the Vancouver Giants and Kamloops Blazers at Takhini Arena on Feb. 12:

"It should be a real good hockey atmosphere for the fans in Whitehorse, get everybody warmed up for the WHL game.”

The Mustangs first brought the North Shore Winter Club team up five years ago, and have since hosted the Calgary Edge and teams from Richmond, B.C.

Last year, the Mustangs split their two-game series with the Oceanside Generals.

The process starts when the Mustangs head Outside for tournaments and gauge interest.

"It's a lot of fun for the Whitehorse kids to play in Whitehorse,” Stephens said "Most of our games are down south, so it's a lot of fun for the kids and the parents and the friends and the hockey fans in Whitehorse.”

The Pursuit of Excellence are sending their midget AA team.

The visitors range from AA to AAA levels, depending on the Mustangs caliber at the time, Stephens noted.

"A couple of years, we've had Richmond's AAA team up here, the Edge from Calgary was AAA, then last year Oceanside was a AA team,” he said.

"Depending on the caliber of our team, we try to get a good match, both for us and the team coming up here.”

The series will be a good tune-up for the Mustangs, because they'll be heading Outside the following weekend to play in a AA tournament in Lethbridge, Alta., in preparation for B.C. provincials in March.

The busy two weeks should also benefit the CWG players heading to Halifax.

"They'll go into the tournament with two weeks of good hockey.”