Nick Mauro was forced to sit out the final game between his Northern Cross Mustangs and the Anchorage North Stars Saturday night at Takhini Arena, due to injury.

But the towering Mustangs captain still made his presence felt, as he joined his teammates in between periods on the bench and offered some motivational words to get them riled up.

'He told us, This is our barn, let's make sure we play that way. The fans want to see some big hits and big goals,'' explained Mustangs forward Brad Holm.

They may not have been able to literally follow their captain into battle, but the Mustangs certainly heeded his advice, wrapping up their four-game series against the North Stars with another convincing win, 7-1. In earlier games, Whitehorse had posted 11-0, 6-3 and 4-1 victories.

'We played pretty good,' said Holm. 'We had a few breakdowns that were crucial, in the second game especially. But we regrouped and came out pretty strong the last couple of games.'

'We worked hard, worked on the things that we knew we had to tweak out,' added Mike Young, co-coach of the Mustangs, along with Joe Martin. 'Our passing got a lot better over the weekend. We were shooting lots, finishing our checks. Everyone came out of this with a confidence boost, for sure.'

Mustangs forward Ted Stephens may have received the biggest confidence boost during the series, and he was one of the players who needed it the most. Less than two months removed from appendix surgery, Stephens was back on the ice in a game situation for the first time since Whitehorse travelled to Anchorage in early October.

'Ted was amazing, he was scoring goals left and right,' summed up Holm.

In fact, Stephens chalked up an admirable seven goals and two assists in three games. But he wasn't the only member of the Mustangs who was impressive during the four games. Chris Gleason was an offensive threat as always, Evan Campbell showed some fire and Holm was a physical force nearly every shift. But Holm was reluctant to take credit for his work, preferring to give credit to his teammates.

'Kane Dawe, he's a little guy but he sure throws his weight around out there and obviously Chris Gleason is always great for us. And Nick Mauro, he just lays people out and sets the tone for the game. He's a great captain, always a great leader.'

Martin pointed out this year's midget squad is a more mature group, which reacts better to the crowd. In the final game on Saturday, there were many times where the spectators were chanting for a fight, and under the same circumstances last year, it would have happened, said Martin. But this time around, they were able to keep their cool.

While Anchorage wasn't exactly topnotch competition for Whitehorse, Holm said it gave the Mustangs a good opportunity to work on their key plays especially their powerplay, which hasn't been too hot yet this season.

Anchorage is full of youngsters, with all but two of them in their first or second year of midget, so next year could be quite a different story.

'This is a rebuilding year for (Anchorage) and this is one of our strong years,' said Young. 'It was a bit of an imbalance, but it was the opposite last year, when they were peaking. It's a good relationship we have going with them.'

'(The North Stars are) going to be a really great team next year,' added Martin. 'I really think they're almost on par with us now, maybe not skill-wise, but their coaches are great, they have great systems and they're a great passing team. They're just small and young.'

North Stars coach Fred Braden said he's been very impressed with the Mustangs, not just on the ice but off the ice as well.

'They're good,' he stated. 'I knew they would be. With the strong bantam team they had last year and the midgets from last year now a year older, this is a very good team.

'I had the chance to talk with some of them this weekend and they're also great guys.'

For Braden, the four-game series in Whitehorse, as well as the earlier series in Anchorage, was a chance for his players to learn how the game is played.

'You put them in tough situations and they learn a lot about themselves and what they're made of. And I also wanted them to get the experience of playing here, in a junior-hockey-type atmosphere.'

Braden didn't even tell his team about the games against the Mustangs this year until after their league play had wrapped up, because he didn't want them to get ahead of themselves. But they were pretty excited about the idea of home-and-home series.

'They said, That's like junior teams, that's awesome.' This is huge for them.

'They don't get this kind of atmosphere back home.'

The North Stars also don't get a chance to see much curling back home, so Braden thought he'd make a trip to the Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre while in town, to take in the final of the Canadian mixed curling championship.

'A lot of these guys have never seen that before. One kid was like, Is that even ice?' Curling is not very big in Anchorage. But now they all want to try curling.'

The North Stars could have another big surprise in store when they travel to the annual midget tournament in Edmonton after Christmas, but mum's the word on the details.

As for the Mustangs, they have a trip to Richmond over the holidays in the works. It's an international tournament which would feature 20 teams in Whitehorse's division alone.

'A number of scouts and coaches came up to us in Abbotsford (where the Mustangs won gold at a tournament earlier this month) and told us, You have to go to this,'' explained Young. 'We take pride in that for sure, because we don't usually get people telling us that.'

Martin believes Richmond would be a huge test for the Mustangs. There will be a lot of special-teams play at the tournament, and if the Mustangs canimprove in that area, they have the chance for a great finish.

'Everything just has to come together,' he said. 'The leadership's in place, the right player's are there, and some of the older guys have really stepped it up.'

Here are the Mustangs' stats for this past weekend's series:

Name GP G A Pts. PM

Ted Stephens 3 7 2 9 8

Chris Gleason 3 4 3 7 0

Michael Fraser 3 2 5 7 4

Lowell Johnston 3 3 2 5 2

Kane Dawe 3 3 2 5 6

Taylor Love 3 2 2 4 8

Brad Holm 3 1 3 4 0

Tyson Hawkins 4 1 3 4 2

Evan Campbell 3 0 4 4 4

Drew Pettitt 3 3 0 3 0

Shane McHugh 4 2 1 3 4

Nick Mauro 2 1 2 3 4

Taylor Pasloski 3 0 2 2 8

Kaleb Dawe 3 0 2 2 2

Josh Craven 3 0 2 2 0

Daniel Cletheroe 2 1 0 1 4

N.Swizdaryk 3 0 1 1 4

JJ Stuckey 3 0 1 1 6

Fraser Love 3 0 1 1 2

Robbie Stuckey 4 0 0 0 8

Alex McDougall 3 0 0 0 18

Jeff Gartshore 3 0 0 0 0

Goaltenders Ian Perrier and Mitch Heynen split the four games, posting goals against of 1.5 and 0.75 respectively.