The Whitehorse Midget Mustangs took top honours at the first Annual Sister City Showdown held in Juneau Alaska over the holiday break.

Four teams took part in the tournament including two midget teams from Juneau, a bantam team from Juneau and the Whitehorse Mustangs.

The core of the team came from the Midget B Mustangs, supplemented by five players from the Midget A Mustangs.

The Mustangs team went undefeated in four games with scores of 8-0 over the Juneau Bantam Capitals, 6-1 over Juneau Midget Billies, and a very close game of 3-2 over the Juneau Midget Cubs in the round-robin. The gold medal game saw Whitehorse defeat the Juneau Cubs 2-0 in a hard fought game.

Two of the Mustangs A players picked up for the tournament, Zack Moses and Cody Mitchell, were named top overall defenceman and forward in the tournament.

Travis Rivest was the top scorer for the Mustangs with nine points, followed by Cody Mitchell with eight points and Tyler Wiens with seven. Goaltenders Matt Pollard and Patrick Soprovich both recorded shutouts during the tournament.

Mustangs' coach Greg Hare said the tournament was a great opportunity for all of the teams to play at a higher level and gain experience and confidence.

"Our Juneau hosts did a great job,” Hare said. "They billeted our players, organized ski trips, layed on a banquet at a local restaurant. Overall, it was an excellent experience and one we should strive to repeat in the years to come.

"Juneau's hockey program has developed very quickly since they first opened their rink only seven years ago; and they face all of the same problems as Whitehorse with the high cost of outside travel. It's a natural fit for the two communities to develop a hockey rivalry.”

This is the first years for a Mustang Midget B program in Whitehorse and this was the team's first outside tournament. The Midget B team does not play in a Whitehorse league but plays exhibitions games against Whitehorse Recreation B teams and the Bantam Mustangs A and B teams.

In November, the Juneau Cubs visited Whitehorse and handed the B team two defeats by scores of 5-1 and 7-2. In fact, the Midget B team lost the first seven games of the exhibition season before hitting their stride. In their past 10 games, the B Mustangs have lost only two games.

It is anticipated that the Sister City Tournament will become an annual Christmas exchange between Juneau and Whitehorse.

Submitted by Greg Hare.