This hurts, there's no doubt about it.

There will be no provincial title, no perfect end to what had been a dream season for the Whitehorse Mustangs midget AA hockey team.

With a 5-3 loss to Rossland/Trail in their final round-robin game Thursday night at Takhini Arena, the Mustangs finished in ninth overall, with a 0-4 record at the provincials. They won't even see a playoff game this weekend.

Having lost just four games all season up until this week, the Mustangs picked a bad time for their first big losing streak. This is a team that won a tournament in Abbotsford earlier this season, swept series' against Alaska and Burnaby, finished second in an international midget tournament in Richmond in January and won gold at the 2006 Arctic Winter Games. But in the tournament that counted the most, they didn't get the results they needed.

So what went wrong?

'I actually really don't know,' said team captain Nick Mauro. 'We had some bad breaks, some iffy calls by referees, but we can't blame it all on other things. In the end, it was really us. We just couldn't pull it together.'

'We got off to a bad start and I really think we just couldn't get out of it,' added veteran defenceman Josh Craven. 'We just lost a lot of confidence.'

Coach Joe Martin agreed with Craven. He said playing two games on the first day of the championships after competing hard at AWG last week and coming out 0-2 was a big mental setback.

'Our first game is always the shakiest at tournaments,' Martin pointed out. 'But somehow in the other tournaments, we always found a way to pull it off.'

The Mustangs seemed to be lacking intensity in their first matchup of the week, versus Aldergrove. They had plenty of shots on net, in a 5-3 loss, but eliminated their chances of a comeback when they were down by just one in the third, taking a few penalties. Aldergrove played like they wanted it more.

'There may have been a bit of a lack of energy,' admitted coach Mike Young. 'Maybe a lack of focus, a lack of intensity. Some of the other teams, even though they may not be as talented as us, came out more intense.

'We can't help but feel there was a little bit of underachievement by everyone. Even the coaches, we feel like we underachieved too. It goes all down the line.'

Young pointed out the other teams were also recipients of some lucky bounces. At least two goals against the Mustangs bounced off of their own players into the net.

'You can play your best and still not win. You need other things to go your way as well.'

'You need all those bounces to go in for you and you need a few calls to go your way early on in the tournament, to get your confidence going,' agreed Martin.

The biggest thing the players need to take from this, said the coaches, is once you get a lead, it's imperative to protect it. And while the Mustangs aren't typically an undisciplined team, the championships also taught a few players the importance of keeping their cool in tough situations.

The local squad felt the officiating in their second game against Quesnel was very questionable, and when the final buzzer sounded Tuesday, the frustrations of a few players boiled over. The result, after a furious confrontation with the officials by two of the Whitehorse players, was two three-game suspensions. One of those suspensions went to Ian Perrier, the Mustangs' starting goaltender.

'This whole year, we've played with class,' said Craven. 'But at a certain point, I think it's just boiling up inside you.'

Young admitted the loss of Perrier for the rest of the tournament definitely hurt the team in their final two contests.

'Mitch (Heynen, the backup goalie) is unbelievable, I can't say enough how happy I am to have him on this team,' added Mauro. 'He works very hard. But having said that, to lose any one of your goalies ... it really puts you down.'

The players and coaching staff insisted there was no mentality of giving up after losing the first two games, that almost everybody busted their butts trying to make things happen for the final two contests.

Mauro said there were times when the team was flying, full of confidence, but they didn't cash in on their scoring chances. On the opposite side of the ice, the other teams did make their chances count, despite the fact the Mustangs were dominating, and that just 'takes the wind right out of your sails.'

'It's a tough pill to swallow, but it's the nature of sport,' added Craven. 'Anything can happen.'

There were still some bright spots for the Mustangs this week, and certainly some positives to take away from what was still a very successful season.

First-year midget defenceman Nicholas Swizdaryk looked solid on the blue line throughout the championships, making several key plays to save what looked like sure goals. He really seems to be coming into his own. Young forwards such as Ted Stephens and Drew Pettitt showed their offensive flair and vision all year. And veterans like Craven, playing their last season in Mustangs red and white, cranked it up a notch from last year.

'Josh had an unbelievable season,' stated Mauro. 'Every game, he got better. I was very impressed with his play this year. He's an unbelievable skater and I would really like to see him go on and play junior hockey for sure.'

Craven said he'll probably attend a few junior A and B camps over the summer, in hopes of continuing his hockey career, but he's not exactly sure where he'll end up next season.

'I think this is one of the best Mustangs teams Whitehorse has had in a long while and I am so proud,' Craven offered as a parting shot. 'We just lost the wrong games.'

Mauro, who has been scouted by several junior teams already, said he expects to be back in Mustangs colours next season.

Both he and Craven expect the 2006-07 Mustangs will be a very strong team once again, depending on how many players return and how many try their luck elsewhere, such as with the Fort St. John AAA midget Tracker District Flyers.

'We have some extreme talent among the first year (players),' said Craven. 'If most of them stay, it will be a damn good team.'

Mauro and Craven were adamant that the right coaching staff is also in place for next year, giving them a lot of credit for their success this season. The combination of a technical coach in Young, and a coach who put them through the ringer as far as strength and conditioning in Martin, worked wonders, said Mauro.

'We had the best of both worlds this time. Without them, we wouldn't have been anything.'

Mauro said he's also looking forward to playing with the new players who will move up from bantam next season, especially defenceman Lawrence Brennan. Mauro will be entering his third year as a midget defenceman and hopes to be paired with Brennan, to help him learn the system.

'Swizzle (Swizdaryk, who was partnered with Mauro in his first year as a midget) has come into his own now, he's really stepped it up. He can play with someone else.

'I would really like to play with Lawrence next year because I think he can be something really big. He's already amazing and I think I can help show him the ropes.

'Mike McGowan (a former midget defenceman) did the same thing for me (in 2004/05) and it helped me so much. I looked up to him, I wanted to play like him.'

Martin said there should be a strong core group of players next season, many of who will already know the systems and know what the coaching staff expects from them. If they are able to get off to a quicker start next year, they'll be even stronger in the end, said the coach.

'(The championships were) definitely disappointing,' summed up Swizdaryk. 'But we won two tournaments, we got second in one, we won all of our exhibition games. It was a pretty good season.

'We'll be ready for next year.'