Capital city rep teams collided on the ice last week. Often literally.
In the team’s first road trip of the season, the Midget B Mustangs faced off with three different teams from the Juneau Capitals rep club in Juneau.
In the four-game series, the Whitehorse rep team took two wins and two losses.
“It was a good experience for them,” said Mustangs co-head coach John Grant. “We were playing full contact and at least six of the kids have never played that level before. It kind of opened their eyes a bit.”
All four games were lopsided with the Mustangs dominating in two and getting shut out in the others.
Whitehorse opened the road trip with an 11-1 win over the Capitals AAA bantam team. Centre Karter Kazakoff had three goals and an assist while winger Johnny Dewhurst produced two goals, included an unassisted effort, snaking through the Capitals defence.
The Mustangs then suffered a 5-0 loss to the Juneau rep club’s U18 midget team.
“It was actually a pretty decent game because they were up 1-0 after two periods,” said Grant. “I think they had five players on (Alaska’s) Arctic Winter Games team.
“We didn’t play a really good third period, but we played great in the first two ... We kind of forgot to show up in the third.”
Kazakoff was back in high gear as the Mustangs took another win over the Capitals AAA bantam squad. The centre posted another hat trick to help lift the Mustangs to a 8-1 win.
“He was on fire,” said Grant of Kazakoff.
Mustangs defenceman Jordan King had two goals in the win and winger Brandon Janz finished with three assists.
Like their previous shutout loss, the third period was troublesome for the Mustangs, allowing four goals in the final period of an 8-0 loss to Juneau’s U16 midget team.
With plenty of scoring opportunities, the Mustangs need to focus on finishing up around the net, said Grant.
“We had 10 absolutely glorious scoring opportunities,” said Grant. “Eight times we put it over the net or wide. Twice our player was all alone and hit the goalie right in the breadbasket. They have to learn to pick their corners a little better.
“It was a pretty rugged game; lots of hits,” he added.
The Midget B Mustangs will be back in Alaska in two weeks to play in their first tournament of the season in Anchorage.
“It was a good road trip,” said Grant. “Juneau, as usual, treated us royally - except on the ice.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com