Most kids grow up playing outdoor shinny, but it’s not everyday a competitive midget hockey team gets to play a fully-sanctioned hockey game on outdoor ice.

Such was the solo game treat for the Yukon Mustangs and visiting Notre Dame Hounds as they squared off in Game 2 of a five-game open series last weekend.

What had originally been planned as a tournament soon became a series between the Northern Hockey power and the Wilcox, Sask. famed hockey academy team after other camps had to drop out due to bus mechanical issues or scheduling conflicts, said Mustangs assistant coach Carl Burgess.

While some of the Mustangs had faced the Hounds in a tournament last year, there were many fresh faces as about two-thirds of this year’s team are first-year midgets.

“It’s really exciting and fun for the players to see new teams that they don’t know who’s on the team; they don’t know how good they are,” said Burgess. “It’s exciting and brings everyone’s spirits up a bit.”

The boost in energy was sorely needed by the Mustangs, who came home from a tournament in Alaska the weekend before with their spirits a little battered.

“While they performed well, it was six close losses against some of the best teams in Alaska,” said Burgess.

Many of the boys they faced were older and bigger than the Mustangs, as they played in an older age bracket than they’re used to.

Last Friday’s 6-0 opening game against the Hounds certainly set the tone for a weekend of games.

Before the weekend was up, the Mustangs would outscore the Hounds 39-8 and sweep the open series 5-0.

“The boys kind of bonded together because the weekend before we had a really tough go and I think we all kind of got it together and brought our games and our leadership and our team play,” said Mustangs centre Oscar Burgess.

Burgess had played the Hounds last year and knew to expect serious, physical hockey played with tenacity.

“We knew they were going to be a tough game and everyone kind of knows about Notre Dame, them being a really good hockey academy and a bunch of good players come from there,” said Burgess.

That didn’t stop the Mustangs from playing their own game.

In their Saturday morning start, as the mercury flirted with -10 C, the boys skated at Mt. Lorne’s outdoor rink, sharing a bench, a wood stove and mom’s homemade hot chocolate between shifts.

Without glass around the rink, they played modified rules: no contact near the boards.

“The boys respected that and played fast, but not physical,” said coach Burgess.

For many of the players, it was their first time playing a competitive game outside and Hounds head coach Adam Chernick wanted to keep it fun.

“Today it was just to have fun, soak up the experience and obviously to play hockey too,” he said following the game, which the Hounds lost 7-4 (it was their highest scoring game of the series) as snow fell in thick flakes. “It didn’t come with the outcome we wanted, but we had fun and that’s the biggest thing.”

As the ice was flooded mid-game, players stuck their heads out of the bench, displacing the thick plastic flaps keeping the hot air inside.

“It was amazing. It was the first time I’ve ever done anything like this,” said Mac Ducharme, right wing for the Hounds.

“It was awesome. Unbelievable experience.”

The snow began to fall as the crowd around the ice got bigger late in the third period.

Players steamed from their jerseys as the buzzer went off and they stepped off the ice.

They piled into trucks and vans, off to fill their stomachs with warm lunch and, for the Hounds, to enjoy a soak in the Takhini Hot Springs before the unrelenting schedule pitted them against each other once again in Game 3 that evening.

The Hounds would drop the next three games: 11-0; 7-1; 8-3 before heading back to Saskatchewan.

“It’s a little bit rough,” said Ducharme of the five-game, three-day series, after the outdoor game. “We’re going to be tired when we go home, but it’s all fun and good.”