Things looked good for Castle Rock entering the final frame of the bantam hockey season Sunday night.

Then any hope of a Whitehorse Minor Hockey Association title crumbled away.

The speedy Yukon Peewee Mustangs scored three unanswered goals in the third period, capping a solid season with a 5-3 victory in front of a large crowd at the Canada Games Centre.

Landon Marsh and Ashton Underhill each scored twice while Errol Ekholm added an insurance marker by sending a wrist shot top shelf.

Underhill added two assists while Ty Beacon dished out three.

Burly forward Kyle Bierlmeier scored twice for Castle Rock, with blue-liner Colton Webb adding a goal for the bigger and stronger club.

The game was a rematch of the Yukon bantam championships in January, which the Mustangs won 5-2.

The peewee squad – which plays in the older age group – went on to finish second at B.C. provincials in March.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Marsh said of the season-ending gold. “After our loss in provincials, we just wanted to come home and end of the year with a win.”

The 12-year-old centre said his club gave it their all in the third against their 13- and 14-year-old rivals.

The two clubs tied their round-robin match 2-2 earlier in the week. The final marked the first loss of the playoffs for Castle Rock.

Underhill gave the Mustangs a 1-0 lead in the first after tapping a loose puck past Castle Rock goalie Broden Cull on a scramble play.

After Webb knotted things up, Bierlmeier gave Castle Rock the lead with a slap shot that slipped past Mustangs ’keeper Joshua Wanless to reclaim the lead heading into the first-period break.

Marsh tied the game early in the second with a slick goal that saw him kick the puck up to his stick at the blue-line before ripping a wrister low blocker.

But Bierlmeier restored the lead before the end of the frame, converting on an extended five-on-three power play.

The Mustangs would rally in the third, with Marsh scoring on a scramble and Underhill sliding one in the open side on a broken play with just over eight minutes left to play.

Castle Rock coach Cary Goodman called a timeout following Underhill’s go-ahead goal, but it failed to calm his troops.

Several players came unglued and were eventually tossed from the game for their outbursts.

“They all had the heart and the grit; they played with their hearts on their sleeves,” Goodman said of his team, which featured a handful of Arctic Winter Games players.

“I told the boys to hold their heads up high. Coming in second is not a bad thing. There’s still third, fourth and fifth behind us.”

Meanwhile, Mustangs coach Mike Cozens said his club stuck to their gameplan, and it paid off.

“Our boys have to play their best, or they will lose to these guys,” he said of Castle Rock. “It brings out the best in them.”

Cozens said despite being down twice, his crew didn’t panic.

“That’s one of the keys. You know what our gameplan is, you know what you’re supposed to do. Just do it better.”

Also special was the club’s performance in their final round-robin game, Cozens said. Down 5-2 versus DGC Welding, the Mustangs went on to win 6-5 despite playing the third period without a goalie.

“That was a crazy experience.”