At the beginning of the 2010-2011 hockey season, the Whitehorse Midget Mustangs set themselves a goal for the B.C. Provincial Championships – finish in the top four.

The Mustangs did themselves one better.

After battling injuries and the flu all week, the Mustangs earned bronze at the Tier 3 B.C. Provincial Championships in Cranbrook with their 4-3 win over Merritt this morning.

"The kids were tired but they gave it everything and it all worked out for us in the final period,” Mustangs head coach Jim Stephens said.

"The kids and the coaches, we put in a lot of time this year, both on ice and off ice. It's a big-time commitment for the kids, so it's good that they get rewarded. It would have been nicer to win the whole thing, but given the circumstances, we're pretty happy placing third and ending the season on a winning note.”

The win was especially sweet for five of the Mustangs third-year players.

Captain Chris Vance, forwards Lindsay Meikle and Trevor Hanna, and defensemen Adrian Hawkings and Travis Rivest played their last minor hockey league game.

"It's great to win the last game of our minor hockey career,” said Hanna, who had a goal and two assists against Merritt. "Everyone played great, it's just an unreal feeling, it's hard to explain.”

Vance said the veteran's role on the team was to stay focused on the puck through the injuries, bad calls and heavy hits (which he also has a knack for dishing out).

"We had a young team,” Vance said of a Mustangs team that had seven rookies.

"We all did good, we all had fun, we played as a team, we didn't get down on each other and we kept pushing.”

Kept pushing through injury, in other words.

Hanna, who suffered with the flu today, played with three stitches in his elbow since the Mustangs' 6-4 win over hosts Cranbrook on Wednesday.

Vance played with a shoulder injury for the past two games.

Stephens noted that Vance, despite his nagging shoulder, set the tone in today's game with a major hit on Merritt's biggest player.

"Today they were key players,” said Stephens, who added that as the coach of the midget squad he has never cracked the top four. "I've coached them on and off since peewee, so I've seen them grow as players and individuals. They gave it all they had today.”

Hawkings pinched in to snipe the Mustangs game-winner on the power play off a point shot from Vance.

Vance scored the Mustangs' first go-ahead goal of the game at 16:38 of the third.

Merritt responded immediately off a bad giveaway in the Mustangs own end at 16:25.

"We got the lead with about 10 minutes left and from there we just kept it up and played hard,” Hawkings said. "We chipped it out more instead of looking for shots on goal. We played a bit more passively.”

There was little extraordinary about the Mustangs road to the bronze.

Whitehorse opened the tournament with a 4-4 tie against Sooke, followed by back-to-back wins, a 7-0 thrashing of Dawson Creek and a 4-1 win over 100-Mile House.

The Mustangs hit a snag with an 8-3 loss to Langley on Wednesday but rebounded later in the day to beat Cranbrook 6-4 in what Stephens called a poorly officiated game.

Those two games drained the Mustangs before their 7-2 semi final loss against West Vancouver yesterday evening.

"We had high hopes coming into provincials because our team pretty strong this year,” Meikle said, adding that West Vancouver was a "really strong team.”

"That team was pretty fresh compared to our guys,” Stephens said.

"Our guys were fatigued – that was the big difference in the game. Our guys gave it everything they had, but there was just not enough recovery time there.

"We played two tough games (Wednesday) … our kids, they were just gassed. The other team, they were one (game) a day. Whenever you can catch a team in a tournament the next day after they play two, you definitely have an advantage. The body just can't recover fast enough to play at your top level.”

The Mustangs did, however, recover for today's game.

With nothing left to lose, Meikle said the team left it all out on the ice.

"It's a good group of guys this year, so it's a really good way to go out, with a win today. It's a really good way to end, but I'm going to miss it, for sure.”

Assistant coach Jay Glass called the bronze "bittersweet.”

But, he added, the Mustangs'll take it.

"It's always hard to play for bronze after a disappointing semi-final game,” Glass said. "It's hard to play for bronze when you want to play for gold.”Hawkings agreed.

"It was nice to have won the bronze, but we were a bit disappointed we didn't get the gold,” Hawkings said. "It was a nice way to cap off a minor hockey career.”

The mood in the dressing room was quite different following the semi-final loss and the bronze medal win, Hanna said.

"Yesterday's game was all quiet, no music or anything; today's game we were all dancing around and cheering, just having a great time, big smiles on our faces,” Hanna said.

"Our team just gave it our all, with injuries,” he added. "We just kept working.

"You just got to work through the pain. You only get one opportunity. This was my last tournament, I just gave it my all. You just got to keep going. And it turned out good – it's worth it.”

Boy was it ever.

Stephens has been coaching the five veterans for many years.

It's nice to see how far they've all come, he said.

"It's been fun for me going through this journey with these kids, and I've had as much fun as they have,” Stephens said.

"I'm really proud of those guys, and having coached them for a number of years, it's very rewarding for me as a coach to see these guys have some success. That age group, we've never cracked the final four, so it's really nice, their last year, they finally made it into the top four and got a medal out of it.”