For most young athletes, the chance to play for a championship trophy on their home soil is an incredible experience that doesn't come around very often.

The thrill of having a loud crowd behind you and the familiarity of the facilities can be a huge advantage when it comes down to the wire, and not having to travel by plane or bus to another city for the tournament provides some much needed rest especially when coming off of a week-long stint at the Arctic Winter Games.

When the Whitehorse Mustangs midget AA rep hockey team steps off the plane from Alaska Saturday, they'll take all the rest they can get, with just two and a half days to prepare for their ultimate goal this season� the provincial title.

More than 100 athletes from across B.C. will take on the Mustangs at Takhini Arena next week, for the B.C. Amateur Hockey Association 2006 Midget AA Championship, which will be held in Whitehorse March 14-18.

B.C. teams from Hollyburn, Kerry Park, Smithers, Dawson Creek, Rossland/Trail, Quesnel, Winfield and Aldergrove have confirmed their attendance at the event, sponsored by Northwestel and Bell Mobility.

The midget championship is a test event for the 2007 Canada Games. It hasn't been held in the Yukon since 1990, when the midgets were known as the Hougen's Hawks.

'We're lucky to be able to host the championships,' said event Chair Jim Stephens. 'I think it will be really exciting for the kids and the crowd to have this level of hockey in Whitehorse. It will be a tough week, but the kids are pumped.'

At the 1990 championships, the Yukon squad was facing very similar circumstances.

The Hawks featured well-known local players such as; forward Jarrett Dueling, who went on to play professional hockey, including a stint with the NHL's New York Islanders; defenceman Billy McKay, who played for Ivy League Brown University in Rhode Island on a hockey scholarship; as well as several other athletes who went on to junior and college hockey careers, including goaltender Brian Power.

Much like the Mustangs, who have been called the best team to come out of the Yukon since that 1990 squad, the Hawks went into the provincials favoured to hoist the trophy, especially after winning gold at AWG the week before.

But once back on home turf, the Yukoners let the championships slip away and finished without a medal. In an interview earlier this week, assistant coach Doug Harris said the same AWG that gave them a gold medal, played a huge role at provincials.

The Hawks played eight games in one week at AWG and returned home on a late night flight Sunday. Their first game of the provincials was Monday.

'We were so excited because we had won Arctic Winter Games and now we were going to be playing at home for the provincial championship,' recalled McKay, in an interview from Calgary, where he now resides. 'We really didn't feel (fatigue) was going to be a factor, but obviously, it was.

'We had a young team, with three second-year bantams playing midget (McKay, Dueling and Dean Mastrangelo). A lot of the good players were more grind it out, tough players. Even Jarrett, he had a lot of skill obviously, but he was a very physical player. Playing so many games, he really banged his body up.

'It took a toll on everyone.'

This year's midget crew has the benefit of an easier schedule at AWG, playing four games, including the gold ulu final, rather than eight. They also have a bit more time in between competitions, arriving home Saturday evening and playing their first game Tuesday.

'It shouldn't be as much of a problem for them this year,' agreed McKay. 'As long as they make sure to drink lots of water and get some rest in between games, they should be OK.'

As for the pressure of being a hometown team favoured to win it all, McKay said it can be tough, but he doesn't think it will affect the Mustangs in a negative way.

'I don't think we were reading the papers back then, thinking it would be easy because of all the talk about us being the best team. We just knew in the dressing room that we had a really good team and we wanted to win.'

And when they didn't do as well as they'd hoped, McKay said nobody in the Yukon ever made them feel like they had failed. The support they received was unbelievable, he insisted.

'We were harder on ourselves than anybody in the community was.'

In fact, the support from the local fans is what made the 1990 championship a good memory for the Hawks despite the outcome.

In his first game at provincials, McKay fell awkwardly to the ice and injured his wrist. The training staff wasn't sure how bad it was, so they took him the the emergency room, where he was told it was broken. Stuffed into a cast up to his elbow, McKay was relegated to opening and closing the gate for his teammates the rest of the week.

'It was really quite devastating,' he recalled. 'The worst part about the whole thing was that it was a chance to play at home and the crowd was amazing. From what I remember, it was even better than I was expecting. That just made it that much harder for me not to be able to play.

'I had moved from Ross River two years prior to that and it was the first time that all of my friends and family were in one place, watching me play. It was huge for me.'

Whitehorse resident Mike L'henaff was also at the 1990 provincials, but not as a Hawk. L'henaff toiled for Salmon Arm, which took on the Hawks in the game directly following the opening ceremonies, in front of a huge crowd.

'Even now, talking to some of the guys from down south, we BS about it once in a while, remember what a good time it was. Not just the hockey, but it was a good place to come when you were 17 and a little haywire.

'I'll never forget the opening ceremonies. Later that year, I played for a local junior team (in Salmon Arm) in the playoffs and (midgets provincials) were definitely similar, like a playoff atmosphere with the crowd in Whitehorse.

'They'll have some really good hockey at Takhini Arena.'

For some of the Mustangs, this will be their last chance to play in front of their home crowd before they head off to either college or junior and AAA midget hockey camps. Local spectators at the provincials could be witness to the start of another professional hockey career.

Asked if he had any advice for the Mustangs on how to deal with their hockey careers from here, McKay urged young hockey players to think about alternative routes to junior hockey, such as NCAA competition. McKay chose to go to Brown because he was a good student and he thought it was a good idea to get an education, fully paid for by a hockey scholarship, as well as play.

In the early '90s, he pointed out, it wasn't as popular to go that route, but it's becoming more recognized in recent years.

McKay played against the likes of Martin St. Louis and Craig Conroy while at Brown, two very well known NHL players now.

'It's very high intensity and it still prepares you very well.'

No matter where they go, it's important to make sure they prepare themselves over the summer, he added, just so they don't go to camps and not make it, then come home and say, I should have been better prepared, or I was out of shape.

'There are so many good players at junior camps now and it can be intimidating. The most important thing is don't be star-struck, just play your own game.'

Be prepared. Play your own game. It's good advice that the Mustangs coaching staff is probably giving their players for provincials this week as well. While the Mustangs have lost just three games all season, both at home and at Outside competitions, they'll be in tough.

One of those losses was at the hands of Kerry Park, the squad which beat them in the gold medal final of the Richmond tournament after Christmas.

The Mustangs won't have to face Kerry Park in the round-robin, but they may meet again in the playoffs.

Opening ceremonies for the 2006 Midget AA Championships will be held Tuesday, at 7:30 p.m. at Takhini Arena. Immediately following the ceremonies, the Mustangs will play Quesnel, with puck drop scheduled for 8 p.m.

The opening game of the tournament for the Mustangs will be Tuesday morning, against Aldergrove.

L'henaff, who has seen the local team in action, believes they are strong enough to go all the way.

'Hopefully, they can win the gold in their hometown.'