Depth is something this year's Whitehorse Bantam Mustangs don't have to worry about lacking. And both the players and coaches know it.

Regardless of whoever makes the final roster, the team is sure to have a number of second year players, including eight potential returnees from the 2008-09 squad.

"We stand to have a really mature team, along with a few first year players that are definitely going to crack the lineup," said team coach Jay Glass. "It will be a real fun team to watch develop, I think, because we are going to raise the bar from where we were last year."

On Tuesday, the bantams had their third rep team tryout session. The practice was an hour and 15 minutes and held at the Canada Games Centre's Northwestel Arena.

More than 30 players came out, including seven goalies. Nigel Sinclair-Eckert is the only goalie that played on the A team last year."

"It's never a shoe-in for the actual squad, but he's got a good chance and a good track record," said Bud Arnold, the team's trainer/equipment manager. "For the other goalies trying out it's just a matter of who performs better over the next couple of weeks."

Arnold said the abundance in goalies is proof that the clinics put on in Whitehorse in recent years are starting to pay off.

"We have run a really good goalie program in Whitehorse the last five or six years now and we have a lot of interested goalies," he said. "It's not just the bantam age group, but the peewees have a lot of goalies, the atoms have a lot of goalies trying out. It's really good to see that many."

Tuesday's session focused primarily on skating, using drills that tested a player's stamina.

Arnold said first cuts most likely won't be made until the first game, scheduled for mid September. He added players that are cut will have the opportunity to play for the Mustangs B team, which this year will compete at the 2010 Arctic Winter Games in Grande Prairie in March.

Arnold doesn't envy the selection panel that are tasked with the tough job of picking the team.

"That's why I never do it," he said laughing. "It's a really tough job and it's not an easy decision."

Fourteen-year-old Mitch Read played for the Bantam Mustangs last season. Read, who is a defenceman, thinks the added experience will help the team, especially at provincials, which are scheduled for March.

"I think we have a chance to win provincials," he said "We have eight returning players, so that's a lot of experience."

Teammate from the 2008-09 squad, Tyrell Hope also is confident about the upcoming season. Hope said he feels better about the training session after going through it last year.

"It makes a big difference," he said. "Because you kind of know what the program is about and what they expect."

Both Hope and Read trained during the offseason, focusing on fitness, stickhandling and shooting. The two players said they already have noticed an improvement in the early goings of the trials.

If Hope and Read are selected to the team there is a chance they will help captain the team, which both of them consider an honour.

Glass has also noticed an improvement at the tryouts.

"Compared to last year, of course we have more experience, but we just look stronger as a group," he said. "Again we haven't released any players yet, but there's 32 skaters out there and if any not too many weak ones."

He said normally when a coach gets down to the final three spots there is five or six players that have a legitimate shot. However, this year Glass said there is 15 players that could fill those spots.

"That's how much depth we've got," he said. "So it's a problem, but it's a good problem to have. It's going to be a strong team and our B program is going to be super strong as well, so it's one of those what you like to call a win-win situation."

Regardless of whoever makes the team, Glass is looking forward to coaching them this coming season.

"We are not going down to tournaments to get our butts kicked and just hope that we are competitive in a couple games," he said. "We have the team here that could possibly do what no team has done before and that would be to win a provincial title."