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Peewee Mustangs fight to silver in Victoria

The Yukon Mustangs peewee rep team is a real nuts-and-bolts kind of team, says head coach A.J. Beacon.
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The Yukon Mustangs peewee rep team is a real nuts-and-bolts kind of team, says head coach A.J. Beacon.

Their no-nonsense style of play recently earned them their second medal in as many tournaments.

“This peewee team takes a blue-collared approach,” said Beacon in an email to the News. “They work hard in practice and equally as hard in games and tournaments. We were the least penalized team in the tournament, had the most goals for, the (fewest) goals against, which contributes to our defensive minded approach.”

The Mustangs won four straight games to reach the final of the inaugural Juan de Fuca Peewee November Tournament in Victoria, B.C., taking silver on Nov. 13. They previously claimed a bronze at the Abbotsford Peewee Icebreaker over Thanksgiving weekend.

“The tournament in Victoria was a great building block for our team’s ultimate goal of taking a run at the provincial title,” said Beacon. “Each tournament our team seems to gel a little more and work with a complete team effort.”

The Yukon Mustangs opened with a 4-2 win over the Seafair Islanders with Josh Schenk picking up two goals and MVP honors.

They then downed the hosting Juan de Fuca Grizzlies in 11-2 shellacking. Schenk and teammate Luke Cozens each had multiple goals with the latter getting the MVP nod.

The Mustangs then cruised over Sooke with Yukon goalie Fynn Ritchie named MVP.

Yukon reached the final with an 8-3 semifinal win over Cloverdale. Mustangs captain Ty Beacon and Schenk each sniped multiple goals.

With only two hours rest and a change of rinks in between, the Mustangs were a little gassed in an 8-5 loss to Tri-Port in the final, said A.J.

“The Sunday semifinal game was a 7-9 a.m. game. Then we had to pack up gear and head to another rink for the 11 a.m. finals. This didn’t give much rest between games so we came out of the gates a little flat and couldn’t recover. Although, if we were rested we could have done some serious damage,” he said.

Speaking of not getting much rest, the Peewee Mustangs will be back in action this weekend as they host the Yellowknife WolfPack, Alaska’s Mat-Su/Wasilla Eagles and B.C.’s Fort Nelson Fury in the Whitehorse International Showdown. Games will run Friday and Saturday with gold and bronze games Sunday morning.

“The team consists of mainly new young players with a core of four returning players … captain Ty Beacon, assistants Josh Schenk, Sawyer Adams, Ryder Twardeclob, as well as veteran goalie Josh Wanless,” added A.J. “The experience complimented by the youthful energy level created an excellent competitive balance.”

Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com