The Northern Cross Midget Mustangs overcame a brilliant goaltending performance from opposition netminder Matt King to get the 3-1 victory over Roadhouse in a highly competitive game played in the Whitehorse Recreational Hockey League's 'A' Division on Tuesday.

The Mustangs carried the tempo throughout the entirety of the game, using their speed and a strong forechecking style of play to create chances.

"The boys played a good game," said Mustangs coach Dale Kulych. "It was a dump and chase game and we were drawing some penalties because realistically we should be able to out-skate any team in the rec league and the boys proved tonight that they can skate. The only way that the opposition could try and control us was to hook, clutch grab whatever they could do to slow us down a bit, so the boys played a very good game. The coaching staff is quite happy."

The Mustangs put the pressure on in the early portion of the game and showed off their quickness breaking into the offensive zone. The team generated several shots on goal within the first few minutes of opening frame, forcing King to make a number of key saves.

Despite being outplayed, it was Roadhouse who notched the first goal on a shot from just inside the blue line that fooled Mustangs goalie Mitch Heynen. The goal was scored just under the 10 minute mark of the game by defenseman Jake Derksen after being set up by a nice cross ice pass from one of his teammates.

The Mustangs weren't fazed by the 1-0 deficit and continued to effectively cycle the puck into Roadhouse's zone. Players on Roadhouse limited the Mustangs' scoring chances and the shots that did land on net were stopped and controlled to perfection by King.

Roadhouse generated some scoring chances of their own and had an opportunity increase their lead nearing the five minute mark of the game. The chance came as a result of a turnover deep in the Mustangs zone, but Roadhouse couldn't capitalize despite having Heynen beat on far side of the net.

Continued persistence from the Mustangs paid off though, and the team tied the game up in the final minute of the period on a goal by Lowell Johnston at the side of net. Cheers were heard from the small crowd of about 15 who took in the game from up in the stands.

The action wasn't over as King was forced to make his most brilliant save of the game with less than 20 seconds left on the clock, getting a stick on a shot from a streaking Northern Cross Mustangs forward.

A series of penalties against Roadhouse created numerous chances for the Mustangs to pull ahead in the first half of the second, but King stood his ground and kept the game squared at 1-1.

Johnston eventually would put his team ahead at 7:11, sliding the puck in after King made the initial save and was out of position to stop the rebound.

The goal was scored on the first faceoff after an amazing glove save made by King on a shot heading for the top corner of the net.

Frustration got the better of a couple players on the ice and a brief scuffle occurred with five and a half minutes remaining in the game. Cooler heads would prevail though, and both teams resumed play a few minutes later.

In the final minute of the game Johnston notched a hat trick, scoring a highlight reel goal after getting in behind the Roadhouse players and out weighting King to slide the puck past the down and out goalie.

Kulych said the progress shown during the game in areas that the team is currently working on in practice is more satisfying than the actual win.

"We have been focusing on our breakout and the fore checking portion of our game. We find the more the fore checking you do, the more opportunities you create because they can cough up the puck just as easily as we can," he said. "The goals that we did score there was a couple nice plays on passing and what have you, but really we were in tight on their net and that is where we were scoring the goals and the opportunities were there as well for us."

He said the team will build on the win in preparation for their upcoming series against the Calgary Edge from Feb. 15-18.

"There were a lot of positives in tonight's game and I think the boys feel a lot better about themselves when they come off a game like this," Kulych said. "They like to be irritable and get under peoples skin and they did that, but they can skate and that is the thing. Keep your feet moving and skate and things will happen."

The Midget Mustangs will play three games against Calgary starting on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Sunday's contest will occur at 9:45 a.m. and Monday's final game will be at 9:30 a.m.

All games will be played at the Canada Games Centre.

In other rec hockey action, the Air North Jets beat the Cinderwood Canucks by a score of 5-3.

Darius Elias, Ryan Kinney and Willy McKenna played very well for the Jets, each scoring one goal and adding two assists.

Shawn Kolak and Wesley Marsh also contributed with one goal.

Jay Glass led the way in scoring for Cinderwood, finishing with two goals, while Randy Merkel scored once.

Other notables include Kirk Gale and Graham Belak, who each added two assists.