Photo by Marcel Vander Wier
LEADING THE WAY 鈥� Western Hockey League 2016 draft prospect Bryce Anderson helped the U16 Yukon Mustangs go 3-0-1 against some of Alaska鈥檚 top junior teams.
Mustangs go unbeaten in Anchorage, Edmonton
Following a brilliant run at provincials, the Yukon Mustangs program continued to impress in Alaska and Alberta last week.
Following a brilliant run at provincials, the Yukon Mustangs program continued to impress in Alaska and Alberta last week.
The U16 minor midget program took on some of the state鈥檚 top teams in Anchorage, winning three games and seeing another end in a 0-0 draw.
Two of the games pitted Whitehorse鈥檚 top U16 players against the Alaska state champions, who are playing at the 2016 Toyota-USA Hockey Youth Nationals this week.
The first game saw Yukon get past the state champion Alaska U18 AA鈥圝unior Avalanche 2-0 on goals by Jonas Leas and Dylan Kindervater.
The team went on to beat the Alaska U16 AA鈥圵olves 5-2 thanks to a five-point night from Western Hockey League draft prospect Bryce Anderson (two goals, three assists).
While the third game 鈥� a physical affair with the state champion Junior Avalanche鈥檚 U16 program 鈥� ended in a 0-0 tie, game four saw the Mustangs end their Anchorage road trip on a high note with a 4-0 win over the Wolves.
Leas, Cameron Gingell, Brett Walchuk and Mackenzie Benn-Wipp each scored singles in the contest.
Mustangs goalie Ethan Vanderkley earned three shutouts in the mini series.
Head coach Martin Lawrie was impressed by his squad鈥檚 performance through the four games.
Meanwhile in Edmonton, the Whitehorse atom development team earned a late-season gold medal at the Eagles Hockey Association鈥檚 26th annual Spring Tournament, March 24 to 27.
In their first game, the Tier 3 Mustangs dominated the host Eagles 15-0, which earned them a promotion to the Tier 2 division.
No problem 鈥� the Yukon squad went on to beat four Alberta-based teams handily in the span of 24 hours.
They started by beating the Edmonton Eagles 10-1 on the strength of hat tricks by both Seth Sheardown-Waugh and Jonny Timmons.
They went on to beat the Fort McMurray Bulldogs in two straight games to earn a berth in the final Sunday morning.
Game scores were 6-2 and 8-1 with six and eight different scorers sniping goals, respectively.
The final pitted them against the Eagles. After allowing an early goal, Ben Power bounced back and held the fort in an eventual 8-2 win.
Head coach Derek Johnstone said he was 鈥渆xtremely proud鈥� of his young players.
鈥淲e came close in earlier tournaments this year,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e never once let up ... our main goal was to peak at the end of the year, finally getting the opportunity to feel success in this tournament.
鈥淓very player has learned to play as a team, and not one thought about themselves first.鈥�
Earlier last month, the Yukon bantam and peewee teams each claimed silver at B.C. provincials 鈥� capping a brilliant year for the capital city鈥檚 rep hockey program.
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Comments (1)
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Ann Rafferty on Apr 1, 2016 at 2:17 pm
Hubby and I were in Edmonton for the Mustangs development team tourney.
Our grandson Ethan Candow plays on the team and we travelled from Dryden, Ontario to see him and his teammates play. They were awesome, the team was a credit to Whitehorse and the Yukon. We are very proud
Of Ethan and his team. GO MUSTANGS