If this past weekend was any indication, the Bantam A Mustangs are ready for the B.C. Provincial Championships next month.
The Whitehorse rep team wanted to get more Outside games under their belts before provincials, and they weren’t the only ones.
After originally planning a road trip visiting various northern B.C. teams, the Mustangs played an informal “mini tournament” in Dawson Creek over the weekend with the Dawson Creek Canucks, Fort St. John Flyers and Prince George Cougars.
The Mustangs got some game experience and a confidence boost heading to the provincials, going undefeated in the tourney.
“We don’t get to face all the teams throughout the season that we might face at the provincials. But we did have a couple of tough teams to play against, so that gives us a good gauge of where we’re at,” said Mustangs coach Jordan Borgford. “We are quite happy with how things have worked out so far.”
The Mustangs had multiple-goal wins in three round-robin games and the final.
In fact, the final was the most lopsided of them all; they downed the Canucks 4-1.
Mustangs Kaine Comin had two goals, including the game-winner, and winger Levi Johnson had a goal and assist.
Johnson finished the tournament with 11 points.
“Levi Johnson is a big player and usually scores a lot of goals,” said Borgford.
Whitehorse opened with a 5-3 win over the Cougars, which has former Mustangs player Logan Morris on the team.
Johnson had an assist and two goals, including the game-winner.
The Mustangs took two 4-2 wins on Saturday, one over the Canucks and the other over the Flyers.
Johnson had another game-winner, and two assists against the Canucks, and Matthew Braga had two assists as well.
Against the Flyers, Johnson had two goals while Spencer Lessard had the game-winner. Nick Dobush had a three-point game with a goal.
“Forward Nick Dobush can control the puck,” said Borgford. “It doesn’t matter where he is on the ice, he a strong competitive player and he’s really tough to get off the puck.”
Mustangs goalie Devon Troke stopped 46 of 48 shots in the win over the Flyers.
“Both goalies (Troke and Josh Tetlichi) played remarkably well all weekend,” said Borgford.
The Bantam A Mustangs have had two previous tournament wins so far this season.
They took gold at the Alberni Valley New Years Tournament in Port Alberni, B.C. on Vancouver Island, at the start of the year.
Whitehorse defeated the Kerry Park Islanders 7-4 in the final and Johnson scored a hat trick in all four of his team’s wins at the tournament.
Earlier in the season, the Mustangs won gold at the Winfield Bantam Rep Invitational in November.
The Mustangs went undefeated, posted three straight shut-outs and outscored the competition 27-6.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com