The Whitehorse Bantam Mustangs B team took home a well deserved gold medal at the Fort St. John Bantam Tier 3 Tournament this weekend.

The Bantam B Mustangs closed out the Ft. St. John tournament with a great team effort and a decisive 6-1 victory in the final against the host team.

The game started with Whitehorse back on their heels for the first four minutes or so. Whitehorse Goalie Youge Blackburn kept the game scoreless until the team started to take over the play.

Seven minutes in, the Mustangs got on the board first when Wyatt Gale sent a pass to Cole Morris, who found Jarrett Malchow for a nice goal. With about five minutes remaining, Jamie Tetlichi took a shot that was deflected by Scott Hunston, to Liam Webster for the eventual game winning goal.

Shots in the first were nine to six for the Mustangs.

The second period saw the opposition trying to ‘hit' at every opportunity, but the Whitehorse guys played too smart for the rough tactics.

Eight minutes into the frame, Hunston stole the puck and went around the defence to feed a nice pass in front to Morris who made no mistake firing the puck into the cage.

Two minutes later Malchow scored his 2nd goal, from Tetlichi and Morris. The Mustangs extended their lead to 5 - 0 with a minute remaining, when Hunston deflected a shot by Graeme Close into the net. The other assist on the play went to Braeden Paun-Burnett. The shots in the second were 17 to 10 for Whitehorse.

The third period saw a brief offensive surge by Ft. St. John, and they did manage to score a goal about five minutes in; however, any chance of a comeback was silenced when Mike Arnold won the draw to Close, who fired a shot, nicely deflected by Willy Oulton for the the 6-1 lead, and the eventual final score.

The Mustangs matched the physical play of the opposition for the remainder of the period, and celebrated their well earned victory at the final buzzer. Shots in the third were 11 to six for Whitehorse for a game total of 37 to 22.

In game three of the tournament the Whitehorse Mustangs defeated a tough team from Dawson Creek. The final score was 8-2, that saw the Mustangs finish in first place to play for the gold on Sunday.

The Whitehorse guys, playing their second game of the day, came out fast and furious outshooting their Dawson Creek opponents 15 to 6 in the first period. Good goaltending at both ends kept the game scoreless.

The Mustangs took on the host team for the first time in game two. Playing against a very physical Ft. St. John team, the Mustangs pulled out a much deserved victory, winning by a score of 5-2.

The Mustangs played well enough in the opening game to score a 7-4 victory over a team from Ft. Nelson.

The Mustangs started the game by getting a few shots early, and controlling a good part of the play for the first 5 minutes or so. Around eight minutes in, the opposition scored a couple of quick goals, the first on a powerplay, to take a 2-0 lead.

Not letting that get them down, the Mustangs answered back at the midway point of the period, when Arnold scored a nice goal after racing past the defensemen, and beating the goalie low.

The goal was set up on nice passes from Paun-Burnett and Chase Hobbis. Only 30 seconds later the Mustangs scored again, when Wyatt Gale, batted the puck out of the air into the net.

Topping off the surge three minutes after that, Morris scored a nice goal, from Oulton, and Ryan Chippett, to give the Mustangs a 3-2 lead.

The team from Fort Nelson were battling hard to tie the score, but goaltender Michael Amirault shut the door, making several great saves.

With 30 seconds left in the first frame, the Mustangs were shorthanded and the opposition tied the game on a scramble in front of the net. Shots in the first favored Fort Nelson 13 to 8.

The second period saw lots of good end to end action, and especially great goaltending by Amirault, at the midway point of the frame the Mustangs started to go to work, scoring three quick goals in a three minute span. Arnold scored on a backhand, after Oulton stole the puck from a defender and made the nice pass.

The next goal was from Gale, stuffing in the puck at the side of the net, assisted by Malchow.

The Mustangs took a 6 - 3 lead on the powerplay, when Morris won a draw direct to the net where Chippett jammed it past the Fort Nelson goalie.

Late in the frame with a couple of minutes left, the opposition scored a powerplay goal of their own to narrow the gap to 6-4. Shots in the 2nd period, again favored the opposition 16 to 10.

The third period saw a defensive struggle, as the Mustangs held their lead. Great goaltending at both ends, when required, kept the period scoreless until the last minute when Ft. Nelson pulled their goalie for the extra attacker. Arnold intercepted a pass to score an empty net goal, for the hat trick, to seal the 7-4 victory.

Shots in the third were 12 to eight for Fort Nelson, for a game total in their favor, of 41 to 26. Player of the game award went to Arnold.

Submitted by Bud Arnold