It was an emotional whirlwind of a season for the young peewee Whitehorse Mustangs hockey team that culminated in the BC Hockey Peewee Tier 3 Championships in Summerland, B.C. last week.

The team made the trip without their head coach, but he was in their hearts the whole time – and through the help of technology – also right along there with them.

Head coach Derek Johnstone, who suffered a severe neck and spinal injury during a recreational hockey league game in February, is undergoing rehab in Vancouver. But assistant coach Michael Tuton said through FaceTime, coach Johnstone was able to give pre-game talks to the team and able to watch all the games from the stands.

“They really respond to the coach for sure,” Tuton said of what this meant to the young players. “I think this team has gone through a lot this year and are not fully recovered from the ups and downs that we had.”

But Tuton said the team went into every game at provincials to play hard for their coach with the sign ‘PLAYIN’ FOR COACH DEREK’ hanging above the bench.

The team opened the tournament against Prince George and soared to a 12-0 victory.

“I thought the timing for us was perfect to get the jitters out and finally get onto the ice and have some success. Hoping we could build off that and take some confidence into the next game,” Tuton said of the opener.

But the Mustangs ran into stiffer competition in their pool – including the eventual provincial champion.

The following day the Mustangs took on the team from Terrace. Breaking out to a 2-0 lead at the end of the first, Terrace continued to build their lead throughout the game and added three more late in the third to win 8-0. Terrace went on to win gold.

“Our second game against Terrace, we couldn’t get out of our own way,” Tuton said. “We got into penalty trouble and Terrace had a really solid power play.”

The Mustangs then dropped a 6-2 decision to Langley, the fourth-place finishers, and finished the round robin with a 5-2 loss to the host team from Summerland.

“It was a good experience for us and hopefully the kids learned a lesson from it and know what’s to come for next year,” Tuton said of the tournament. “We didn’t play bad hockey but sometimes you just don’t come out on top.”

This was the first year at a provincial championships for many of the players, Tuton explained, and they will be eligible to take what they learned from this year and return to the Mustangs team next season. Only a few players on the teams will be unable to return, advancing to the Bantam age-level.

“We had probably one of the younger teams at provincials. We lost six or seven guys, but the majority of them will all be back next year,” he said.

Tuton said many of the players will continue playing hockey with the spring program in Whitehorse that is planning to travel to B.C. for three tournaments. Some of the players will also be heading to Kelowna to play their spring hockey down in B.C. before reuniting with the Mustangs when the season begins again in the fall.

Even without their coach on the bench in person, Tuton said Johnstone was still very much a part of the trip for the team and that meant the world to the players.