The Peewee Mustangs soared over the Eagles for bronze on Sunday.
The Whitehorse rep hockey team clipped some wings and captured bronze at Whitehorse Minor Hockey Association’s International Fall Showdown.
The Mustangs claimed a third place finish with a 5-0 shutout win over Alaska’s Wasilla Mat-Su Eagles at Takhini Arena early Sunday morning.
“It was a good game. We have to find some offence somehow,” said Eagles head coach Chris Carney. “Our goalie played good and we had a great time here. We got beat up by the Canadians, but that’s good for these guys - to play and see what it’s all about.
“This team is almost all first-year peewees. So next year we’ll be all 2002s and maybe we’ll exact our revenge.”
The Mustangs scored three in the first and two in the third period in the bronze game with four goal-scorers contributing. Scoring for the Mustangs were Kyron Crosby, Wyatt Sheardown-Waugh, Ashton Underhill - named Player of the Game for Whitehorse - and Saul Gale with two. Gale and Sheardown-Waugh, plus teammates Cole Cowan and Errol Ekholm, each registered an assist. Mustangs goalie Quinn Howard was in net for the shutout.
“Our forwards were pretty open for passes and they were getting shots to the net,” said Mustangs defenceman Marco Harwood. “It made it easier to score.”
The Mustangs opened the tournament with an 8-4 win over the Eagles. They also beat the Juneau Capitals 13-0 with two-goal performances from Jesse Goodman, Connor Cozens and Kyle Bierlmeier.
“Juneau was a weaker team - we appreciate them coming over - but they were a little weaker than what we usually play,” said Mustangs head coach Kirk Gale. “Wasilla, they were pretty good, but they’re a team we should beat and we did. It was disappointing losing to Fort Nelson because I felt that was a team we could beat but, for some reason, we couldn’t get our team together. And then losing to Yellowknife we knew we wouldn’t come one or two (first or second) and that was our goal for this weekend.”
Whitehorse lost 4-2 to the Fort Nelson Bluebell on Friday and 6-3 to the Yellowknife Wolfpack Saturday evening.
Yellowknife went on to win gold with an 8-0 win over Fort Nelson.
“It was a good game against (Yellowknife), there were just a few little things - attention to detail - we were just missing,” said Kirk. “It seems like we work really hard to get our goals and then they don’t work that hard to get theirs.
“We just need to work a little bit more - like I say, attention to detail. Winning little battles, faceoffs and playing a full 60 minutes. Against Fort Nelson, we played 20 of the 60 minutes.”
The Peewee Mustangs’ three victories mark the team’s first tournament wins of the season. They went winless at a Tier 2 tournament in Richmond, B.C. last month and then took three losses and a tie to the Yellowknife Wolfpack at the Air North Hockey Challenge a couple weeks ago in Whitehorse.
“I think we’re playing better, we’re more confident, skating better, but we still have to work on a few things if we want to beat Yellowknife,” said Harwood.
Having placed last, the Juneau Capitals played a consolation game against Whitehorse’s Peewee House League Selects, losing 15-0. Adam Hennings scored four goals for the Selects in the game.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com