Timely goals, solid goaltending and sharp special teams.

It'd be difficult to imagine a better combination for a hockey club heading into the post season.

The Whitehorse Midget Mustangs have that combination.

So far, at least.

The Mustangs are currently competing in the Midget Tier 3 B.C. Provincial Championships in Cranbrook.

Thanks to a strong third period in their most recent game, the Mustangs are sitting in good position with two wins and one tie in their first three games.

Whitehorse downed 100-Mile House 4-1 earlier today.

"It was a pretty tight game up until the third,” Mustangs head coach Jim Stephens said.

The Mustangs were leading 2-1 heading into the final frame off two goals from Tyler Wiens.

The Mustangs added to that lead after two quick goals.

Trevor Hanna potted the first of the two timely goals on the first shift in the third period.

Teammate Travis Rivest followed up with a goal of his own two minutes later.

"We got into a pretty good lead there early on in the third and then just shut them down for the duration,” Stephens said, adding that a sharp power play helps.

"Our power play's been working good throughout the tournament.”

The Mustangs opened the round robin with a 4-4 tie with Sooke, a club from Vancouver Island, last Saturday.

The Mustangs jumped out to a 2-0 lead from goals off Rivest and Hanna before letting the lead slip to 2-2.

Sooke took a 3-2 lead heading into the third period, but the Mustangs battled to take the game back 4-3 with two more goals from Hanna.

Stephens said Sooke look to be the strongest team in their division.

"I expect that they'll probably be in the semi-finals in our pool,” he said. "I thought we played well. We let them back in the game a little bit but then we showed a lot of character by coming from a 3-2 (deficit) to a 4-3 lead in the third, so that's a great confidence builder for the kids.”

The Mustangs next contest came against Dawson Creek.

That match up was less of a nail-bitter, with Whitehorse drubbing their opponents 7-0.

Captain Chris Vance and Tyrell Hope each scored two in the Mustangs most lopsided win in these playoffs.

Not surprisingly, special teams made the difference, Stephens added.

"They were a good team but they took a lot of penalties. We had a lot of power plays and got one goal on a two-man advantage. Our kids have been playing real disciplined hockey…in all our games we've been the least penalized team, and we really preach that, to be successful in the tournament, we have to be discipline and use the power play to our advantage.

"It's really good, because often, in midget hockey, it's really hard for the kids to control their emotions in these real pressure packed games,” Stephens said.

Mustangs goaltender Breyin Wiens earned the shutout.

Nigel Sinclair-Eckert won today's game with a strong performance.

"He played real solid, made some big saves for us,” Stephens said.

Having two hot goaltenders come playoff time is hardly an issue.

But the Mustangs actually have a third goaltender, Patrick Soprovich, vying for a spot.

Soprovich recently had a school exchange to France and is a little rusty after the time off, Stephens noted.

"We're hoping that we can work him in tomorrow, but our other two guys are playing so hot it's really hard for us to not play them,” Stephens said. "We're hoping to get our third goalie in tomorrow, but it'll depend on the first game tomorrow, we'll have to see where we're at. Patrick's played well for us all year too, he's won a few games, so we'd really like to get him in tomorrow. We'll see.”

The Mustangs will end their round robin with two games tomorrow, the first against Langley and the second against hosts Cranbrook.

"We're in a pretty good spot: we'll probably have to win one for sure, we might have to win both, it depends on what happens on our side,” Stephens said.

"We control our own destiny.”

The trick now is to keep doing the right things and not get overconfident, he added.

"You can't be overconfident. We've got to win tomorrow morning's game,” he said.

"They've been taking it pretty seriously…they're really committed to trying to do as best as they can. They know that none of these games are easy, and that we got to work the three periods every shift to be successful.”