For just the second time in at least three decades, a Whitehorse minor hockey team is headed to the gold-medal final at the B.C. provincial championships.

The Bantam Mustangs upset Seafair, which was ranked first in the B Pool, 4-1 in their semifinal contest Wednesday night, advancing to the championship game,

The last time a Whitehorse team made the final was when the midgets won silver in 1988, which was the first time any local hockey figures can recall a team making it that far. No one can remember a bantam team ever making it to the final, and no team from the Yukon has ever won gold.

The bantams finished the round-robin with a record of 3-1, and headed into last night's semifinal game against Seafair confident they could get the job done.

'Our team came out on fire and took a commanding 2-0 lead in the second period,' said head coach Mike Young. 'From that point, our team never looked back. We played a very strong game.'

Evan Campbell opened the scoring for the Mustangs, after a nice pass from Ted Stephens. About a minute later, Whitehorse found the net again, with Jaxon Glass scoring on a pass from Lowell Johnston.

'Seafair was unable to respond to the excellent and aggressive puckhandling and forechecking,' said assistant coach Jim Stephens. 'Our team is playing exceptionally good hockey.'

Seafair also ran into some top-notch goaltending from Ian Perrier, who allowed just three goals in his last three games.

In the third period, it was Kevin Pike hitting the twine for the Mustangs, assisted by Joe Densmore. Seafair finally responded, with a goal in the last five minutes. Then in the dying minutes of the game, with the score 3-1, the Mustangs took a penalty and Seafair pulled their goalie in an effort to inch closer.

But it was Johnston who sealed the victory for Whitehorse, and a spot in the final, skating the full length of the ice for an empty-netter with a minute left.

'The Yukon has never come home with a championship banner, and our kids are going to do everything they can to bring that home to Whitehorse,' said Young.

The Mustangs were expected to play Trail in tonight's final, a team which was touted as the best in the tournament they beat Whitehorse 9-2 in the round-robin. But South Okanagan stunned Trail 4-1 in the other semi, which means the door is somewhat open for the bantams.

South Okanagan is a very strong and fast team, which is very hardworking. Their goaltender stole the show in the semifinal contest, keeping the team in it as Trail fired shot after shot on goal in the final 10 minutes.

Their style is actually very similar to Whitehorse's, but the local squad believes if they can play how they have been, they'll be walking off the bus home this weekend with the championship.

Fatigue could turn out to be a factor for both teams, as they've played five games in four days. The Mustangs already lost one forward, after Kane Dawe broke his collarbone in Monday's loss to Trail Trail lost their top forward to a broken wrist in that same game.

But while the Mustangs may be bruised and banged up, the excitement and adrenaline will no doubt keep them buzzing, and they had a full day off after last night's match to recover for tonight.

Game time for the final is 8 p.m. The Star will have complete coverage of the final, with post-game comments from the coaches and players, in Monday's edition.

Meanwhile, the pee wees finished their provincial tournament without a victory.

After falling 12-0 to Port Moody on Wednesday, the Mustangs, who are playing in Osoyoos, lost 5-0 to Oceanside this morning, in their final game. They finished the tournament 0-5.

The midgets, who are competing in Quesnel, fell 9-1 to Westside on Wednesday and are playing their final round-robin game against West Vancouver today. Results were not available by press time.