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Head coach Martin Lawrie of the Whitehorse Midget Mustangs doesn鈥檛 have any illusions about the upcoming Canada Winter Games in Prince George.

He knows his boys aren鈥檛 not going to go toe-to-toe with the likes of B.C. or Ontario.

They are, however, preparing to slug it out with the other three teams in the qualification round to see who moves up to the main event, and Lawrie is confident the Mustangs are ready, willing and able.

On the weekend, they took three of the four games in an exhibition series in Yellowknife with the club who鈥檒l be representing the Northwest Territories at the Games, Lawrie said.

He said they won the first game 4-2 and lost the second 4-1, largely due to penalty trouble and emotions.

The Mustangs bounced back with a 7-0 shutout Saturday and ended the weekend Sunday with an 8-3 win.

Lawrie said they chose the holiday season to schedule the exhibition series because both Whitehorse and Yellowknife are facing the same situation 鈥� a good number of their eligible players are playing down south but would be home for Christmas.

The Yukon has seven its players Outside, he pointed out. See story below.

Lawrie said he鈥檚 filled 16 of the 20 positions on the roster including the seven, and including recruits from the bantam aged players.

He鈥檚 hoping to fill in the remaining four positions over the next week.

鈥淲e are anywhere from 13 to 16,鈥� Lawrie said. 鈥淪o we are a young team, for sure.鈥�

Lawrie said the Mustang鈥檚 strength lies in a core group of power forwards.

They are, however, lacking experience on the blue line as only three of their defencemen were born in 1999, and the rest are younger, he pointed out.

Lawrie acknowledged the age difference could be harder on the younger defence squad, particularly when they鈥檒l be up against some of country鈥檚 fastest wheeling forwards.

鈥淲e have some things in mind,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have a couple of guys up front that have played both, and we can use some of those guys to eat up some minutes on D as well.鈥�

Lawrie said he鈥檚 confident they鈥檒l emerge from the qualification group that includes the Mustangs, the Northwest Territories, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland.

鈥淥ur goal is to get into that big pool,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 believe we have the club that can do that, for sure.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a strong group, it鈥檚 a very strong group of players we have this year.鈥�

In fact, he added, the boys are already talking about finishing high enough in Prince George so that the 2019 team will automatically have a seat in the big pool.

Lawrie said people who鈥檝e been to the Winter Games for hockey have told him it鈥檚 an opportunity to compete at the highest level.

鈥淭hat is part of it,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have had some kids that have gone on to experience some pretty good hockey.

鈥淧art of the experience is also getting to see some of those guys that will go on to represent Canada at the World Juniors and eventually play pro. From what I have seen from some of the rosters that have been released to date, all the top players that I have seen or read about are there so far.鈥�

When Whitehorse hosted the Winter Games in 2007, Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos was representing Ontario, Lawrie pointed out.

In 2007, the maximum age limit was 17, and now its been lowered to 16, and players had to be under 16 prior to this past Dec. 31.

Lawrie suspects that lowering the age limit in 2011 had something to do with the reluctance of the Major Junior clubs to release older 17-year-olds for the Canada Games.

There鈥檚 likely less resistance to releasing the younger 16-year-olds for the Games, he said.