Playing in their most competitive tournament so far this season, the PeeWee Mustangs managed to exceed their expectations, finishing the event with an impressive 2-2 record.

The Mustangs took more than a few people by surprise with their fourth place finish at the Grande Prairie 'AAA' PeeWee Tournament in Alberta this weekend, which at times even included the team's coaching staff.

"It was a good tournament, we did well," said co-coach Jay Glass. "For 12 and 11-year-olds, they are starting to show some composure beyond their years that is probably going to carry them into a real good chance for a good result in Dawson Creek (at the provincials)."

Although the end result was not as high as the team's second place finish in their first tournament of the season in Dawson Creek, this competition was the PeeWee's most successful outing to date.

The team not only played in a higher level of competition, but they were also successful at correcting key mistakes that they made at their previous tournament in Victoria. One of these mistakes included not being able to hang onto a lead late in the game.

The tournament was held from Feb. 15-17 and it featured eight teams in total. The teams were split up into two pools of four and played in a round robin format. After the conclusion of the round robin on Saturday, the top two teams in each pool played each other in the gold medal game, while the teams who finished in second place played for the bronze.

Both medal games were played on Sunday.

After a tough opening day loss to the Edmonton Swat on Friday, the Mustangs stunned tournament host Grande Prairie and handed the team their first defeat of the competition on Saturday.

It was a well deserved 3-2 win for the Mustangs, who played exceptionally well throughout the entire game.

The Mustangs scored their first goal just five minutes into the contest, when Ryan Chippett buried the rebound opportunity after Tyson Glass made a nice shot. The shots on goal in the opening frame favoured the Mustangs by a count of 9-5.

The PeeWee Mustangs continued their brilliant play in the second period, scoring a goal at the four minute mark of the frame. The goal was notched during a scramble around the crease by Riley Pettitt.

Pettitt wasted no time putting the puck into the net after shots from both Wyatt Gale and Jared Steinbach were initially stopped. Grande Prairie cut into the Mustangs' lead with just over ten minutes remaining in the period on a shot that eluded Mustangs goalie Nigel Sinclair-Eck

A hard shot by Gage Preece that found the bottom corner of net one minute into the third restored the Mustangs' two goal lead. Both Glass and Chippett assisted on the play.

Grande Prairie would once again battle back, scoring with seven minutes remaining in the game.

The Mustangs wouldn't be fazed by the goal and played smart hockey for the remainder of the game, which, along with a couple timely saves made by Sinclair-Eckert, helped them secure the victory.

With the win, the PeeWee Mustangs were still in contention to qualify for the medal round, but they had to win their next game against the Fort St. John Flyers before this could happen

In an impressive game played later that day, the Mustangs mustered seven goals in total and limited their opponents, from Fort St. John, to just two.

Mike Arnold opened up the scoring for the Mustangs six minutes into the game, scoring on the opposing goaltender after Preece made a nice pass.

An assist from Sinclair-Eckert helped Matthew McCarthy notch his first goal of the tournament in an end-to-end rush just moments after Arnold had made it 1-0.

Fort St. John got back into the game before the conclusion of the period, scoring twice to draw even with the Mustangs. Both teams headed into the second frame tied 2-2.

In the second period, after a couple of great saves made by both goaltenders, Steinbach restored the Mustangs' lead, putting the puck in on a rebound. Assists were awarded to Preece and McCarthy.

Arnold scored his second goal of the contest with six minutes left in the period. Arnold fired a well-placed shot that went off the crossbar and in the net. Glass recorded an assist on the play.

The Mustangs added to their lead early on in the third period, taking advantage of a power play opportunity when Arnold notched a hat trick after tipping in a shot made by McCarthy.

Pettitt also got in on the action, scoring with 12 minutes remaining in the period after being set up on a nice pass made by Wyatt Gale.

Arnold, who was later named player of the game, wasn't finished yet and scored his fourth goal of the game. This gave the Mustangs the 7-2 advantage, which would seal the victory in the offensively dominated game.

With the win, the Mustangs finished the round robin with a record of 2-1, which placed them in second in their pool and automatically qualified them for the bronze medal game Sunday morning.

In their last game of the competition, the Mustangs went up against a much stronger 'AAA' from North East Edmonton. The Edmonton Renegades wasted little time in taking to the tired and banged up Mustangs squad, scoring within the opening minute of the game. Before the conclusion of the first period, the Renegades added four more goals to take a 5-0 lead into the second. Shots on goal were 24-6 in favour of the Edmonton team.

After the Renegades scored two more goals in the second, the Mustangs finally got on the board. Gage Preece stole the puck from behind the net, and centered it to Tyson Glass who found the top corner with a beautiful shot.

Despite the amazing goal by Glass, the Renegades would respond by scoring five more goals before the end of the second, which put Mustangs behind 11-1.

In the third period, the Renegades notched two more goals to close out the game 14-1. Regardless of the score, the Mustangs never gave up and battle hard throughout the entire game, which impressed the team's coaching staff.

Preece was awarded player of the game for the Mustangs.

Heading into the tournament in Grande Prairie the Mustangs were working on improving aspects of their game such as special teams, which include both killing penalties and power plays. They also wanted to better the play in their own zone and have more of a physical presence on the ice.

Glass said the team improved in all of those areas and added he was really impressed with his team's willingness to compete throughout the entire event.

"It would have been easy to just quit, throw in the towel and just go through the motions and let Grande Prairie walk all over us," he said. "That could have been the end of it, but our guys didn't want any of that. They went into that game and took it to them for 60 minutes and we deserved to win it."

He said with the process of gearing up for the provincials in March, it is better to play in a more competitive tournament, even if it means not finishing as high in standings.

"I would have been disappointed if we went to a tournament and took four straight wins and weren't really challenged," Glass said. "To me that would have been a waste of time. I would rather be up at a higher tournament and just be in the mix; somewhere where you really have to compete. It is all about improving."

This was the final tournament for the Mustangs before the provincials and the team will focus a great deal of attention for the remainder of the season on conditioning.

The team will also try to improve on increasing their momentum through the neutral zone, which will involve hitting players with passes while they are in motion rather than just standing still.

Glass said he was happy with the team's performance in Grande Prairie.

"As always they gave us a great effort and we are pleased with it, but we don't want to just sit on that," he said. "We still have some work to do.

We would like to improve five more per cent. We can't just sit back, we have to push ahead."