Three lines firing on all cylinders, solid team defense and two hot goaltenders are all contributing to the Cinderwood Midget Mustangs' stellar start this season.

"When you put that all together, I'm not sure how good the team can become, but there's certainly potential,” Mustangs head coach Jay Glass said.

"This team is a special group for some reason; the chemistry is real good, and they're paying attention. They're on the ice, they hustle off, they're disciplined, they're focused…the team's just a special group, I don't know what else to say.”

The Mustangs repeated as champions of the Tier 3 division in the Abbotsford Midget Memorial Tournament held in British Columbia over the weekend with a 5-0 record, conceding just eight goals and scoring 31.

With Whitehorse crushing Abbotsford 9-1 in the final, it's questionable the Mustangs belong in Tier 3.

The Mustangs attempted to enter the Tier 2 division, Glass pointed out. Tier 3 teams are eligible to play in Tier 2 tournaments throughout the season, but have to remain in their tier for the B.C. Provincial Championships in the spring.

With Whitehorse classified as Tier 3, the Mustangs attempted to enter the Tier 2 at this year's tournament but it was full.

"It's always difficult to tell where we should be,” Glass said.

"If we're strong, we like to play Tier 2 teams up until provincials, where everybody's strong.

"The difference at provincials is that it's all the zone champions, so they're strong.”

"I watched the Tier 2 final, after our Tier 3 final, and I'm quite sure we would have been there as well.”

Captain Michael Hare agreed.

"There were definitely some games that were harder competition, but I think if we had been in the Tier 2, we could have still competed and played well,” the 17-year-old said.

"It was definitely a good way to start off the season with a win in a tournament; it's always good to boost our confidence. It really helps us to see how we can play as a team together and what we're capable of.”

Having dropped their opening game at last year's tournament, the Mustangs opened this year's campaign with a 4-2 win over Kent Valley, with Wyatt Gale sniping two goals, and Mike Arnold and Tyrell Hope adding one apiece.

Whitehorse followed that up with 4-0 win over Abbotsford. Hare and Hope each had a two-point night, while Jamie Tetlichi added the Mustangs other goal.

The Mustangs ended the opening round with a 8-4 win over Victoria. Riley Pettitt and Tyler Wiens had two goals each, while Michael Skookum, Brayden Kulych, Arnold and Graeme Close also found their way onto the score sheet.

In the semi-final, Whitehorse trounced Tier 2 team North Shore WC 6-1 after jumping out to a 4-0 lead.

Kulych, Gale, Wiens, Close, Brad Koprowsky and Liam Webster scored for the Mustangs.

The coaching staff awarded Hare – who finished the tournament with seven points (two goals, five assists) – the MVP for the final game.

"Simply because of his leadership and his work ethic as a third-year player and our captain,” Glass said. "But from top to bottom, everyone on that team played on or above what we expected of them for the whole tournament.

"The hard work and discipline is the start of it, and then the talented players in the end typically get more points, but that doesn't mean that they're more valuable to the team. The foundation is hard work and discipline, and they're all giving us that.”

So much so, Glass is reluctant to designate a top line, with the top two battling for lead position.

"Sometimes one line will outscore the other line. It's not all about the scoring.

Probably my top line isn't the highest scoring line,” Glass said.

Like Glass, Hare attributes the team's magic, in part, to depth.

"If one line was falling behind a bit, the other two could step up and it was really good to be able to have that reliability,” said Hare, a third-year Midget Mustang.

"There's a lot of first, second and third-years. It's not just one age group. But there's a lot of good offensive players that have come up to the team this year, so we were able to rely on some people when we had to for that.”

The Mustangs are currently 4-0 in the Whitehorse Recreational Hockey League, having conceded one goal and scored 30.

Glass said, regardless of which tier the club competed in over the weekend, getting experience against midget teams was important.

"We didn't know how we were going to be,” Glass said. "We needed to get out and play some midget competition to have a better feel for what we were. We knew that the scores in the rec league pointed to the probability that we had a strong team; but I think now we know we've got a strong team.”

Hope and Gale are tied for team scoring with 19 points in nine games, while Pettitt has 17.

And hot goaltending helps, as does reliable special teams.

Nigel Sinclair-Eckert and Patrick Soprovich, both returning from last year, have been sharing duties between the pipes.

In seven games, Sinclair-Eckert has a .22 goals against average and Soprovich has a 1.78 GAA.

"We couldn't ask for better goaltending up to this point,” Glass said. "We're splitting them right now. There's no number one or number two, there's just two good goaltenders.”

Glass added that in the final two games in Abbotsford the power play stepped up.

"They were really moving the puck,” Glass said. "They're using our breakout and they're setting up with a real good format in the offensive zone, moving the puck around smart, getting good shots and good traffic. They're buying into the program and executing it real well.”

The Mustangs will play in a Tier 2 Midget Tournament in Richmond, B.C., at the end of December in what Glass calls a "real test” for the team.

"We'll find out there just how good we are or how good we have the opportunity to be.”