The Midget Mustangs failed to capitalize on key power play chances during a late surge against The Roadhouse Bar and Grill.

The Roadhouse used their experience to shut the Mustangs down after taking back-to-back penalties at 12:28 and 10:30 and again at 6:19 and 4:07 of the second half of yesterday's Whitehorse Recreational

Hockey League Rendezvous tournament finals.

Roadhouse forward Clayton Thomas sniped two goals at 14:48 and 12:04 of the first half to help his club to a 4-1 win over the Mustangs.

"You just got to play a different style of game, you don't stick handle as much, and when you get the puck in the slot, you got to bury it,” Thomas said.

"When you play a tough game like this – we're not hitting but you could tell it was fast-paced – you got to make sure when you get the puck on your stick you put a little bit more on it.”

The Roadhouse started the scoring at 19:54 and ended the game with an empty-net goal from Scott Horsey with less than a minute left in the game.

"The first period we played dump and chase, we played their style,” Thomas said.

"And it's good for the kids, it's better for the kids if we play their style. It's always important when you're playing the kids to have respect for them and make sure you have a good game, play them hard, play them fair and don't ease up on them. They appreciate that.”

Mustangs defenseman Brayden Kulych notched his side's only goal, unassisted at 10:02 of the first.

"The mental part is something we probably need to work on,” Mustangs head coach Jim Stephens said.

"We've got to do all the little things right in the championship game, especially against a good team.

They're a good team, they'll jump on your mistakes.”

The Roadhouse finished first in the west division after the round robin with eight points.

The Mustangs, meanwhile, were tied for first in the east division with Dawson City at eight points each but finished first based on goals for and against.

"We were moving the puck well in the round robin, we were getting more pucks on net, our power play was a little bit better, but today our power play wasn't working that well,” Stephens said.

"They read the power play pretty good. But when we get to provincials against the good teams, we'll have the same challenge to execute against a good penalty kill.”

Thomas said the Roadhouse started the tournament slow and picked up with each game.

"We knew we'd play our best hockey on Sunday,” he said.

"We knew we were going to be playing the midgets, so we knew there was only one way to play them: we had to skate with them, and it felt good, all the guys skated with them.”

The tournament acts as a primer for the upcoming WRHL playoffs, the time of year when "guys start getting in better shape,” Thomas added.

The Roadhouse currently sits in second in the WRHL Division A with a record of 21-8-4 for 46 points, two behind leaders Yukon Brewing, who have a 23-8-2 record.

The Mustangs are fourth in the division with 41 points (19-11-3).

"We're usually pretty competitive with them,” Stephens said.

"We're right in there this year with the better teams in the league. We've got to play well to beat them, because they've got a lot of good players, a lot of ex-junior guys, NCAA, CIS. But that's a great opportunity for our kids to play against good players.”

The Mustangs were missing key players Travis Rivest and Michael Hare, Stephens noted.

Rivest is fourth in team scoring with 46 points, 23 goals and 23 assists in 45 games, while Hare has 16 goals and 26 assists for 42 points in 43 games.

"Those guys, in a game like this, would help us out quite a bit,” Stephens said.

"It gave the other guys a chance to play more, which is good too. We played three lines most of the tournament, and a couple games where we had a couple guys sick, we went down to two lines.”

The Rendezvous tourney may be the Mustangs final test before heading to the B.C. Provincial Championships in Cranbrook on March 20-25.

Prior to last weekend, the Mustangs reached the semi-finals at a Midget AA Tournament in Lethbridge, Alta.

A deep bench will go a long way at provincials, Stephens said.

"Some of the guys that don't see as much ice, they get a chance, get more confidence, and that helps us in provincials, because I've found in provincials you need everybody; you got injuries and guys will be sick, so you need a strong bench and you need kids with confidence,” he said.

Added Thomas:

"We play 'em rough, but it's because there's nothing we love more than good, young Yukon hockey players. We were all excited to play them, it turned out good for everyone, it was a hard-skating game. It was good for us; we don't get that all the time.”