Three wins and two shutouts were among a long list of highlights for the Whitehorse Midget Mustangs at the team's most recent tournament in Richmond, B.C.

The Mustangs finished 2008 on a strong note, winning its division with a record of 3-1 and beating last year's B.C. provincial winners Kerry Park in the process.

Despite Whitehorse's great play in the round robin, the team ran into some bad luck in its quarter final matchup against Burnaby, losing 4-3.

"We hit three posts that game, so the Hockey Gods were not with us," said Jim Stephens, the head coach of the Whitehorse Midget Mustangs. "Some days they are and some days they aren't. It was a little disappointing, the kids played really hard."

The Mustangs ended up placing in top eight out of the 20 squads in the AA division at the Richmond Midget Hockey Tournament.

Whitehorse kicked off the tournament against a squad from Fairbanks. The Mustangs went on to win the game 2-0, thanks in part to a brilliant goaltending performance by Brad Gustafson and goals by Bryden Engren-Cook as well as Riley Tobin.

Gustafson, 15, continued his strong play later that night in the tournament's skills competition, which he won after stopping all three breakaway shots.

This was Gustafson's first skills competition and he said it was special being able to win it.

"It was the first one I have ever won, so it was pretty exciting," he said.

He said getting the shutout was nice, but winning the game against Alaska was what mattered.

Other Mustangs that participated in the skills competition included Jaxon Glass, who placed second in the accuracy event and Chris Whynot.

Players on the Mustangs followed up the game against Fairbanks with an impressive 4-0 victory over a talented team from Kerry Park.

Cody Underhill led all scorers on Whitehorse, netting two goals in total, while Engren-Cook and Yudii Mercredi each finished with one.

Mustangs netminder Steven Harlow held his ground, stopping all 35 shots fired his way.

Harlow, 16, said the game against Kerry Park was his highlight of the tournament.

"Going into it we thought it was a big game and just being able to shut the door for 35 saves really helped boost my confidence," he said. "The first two games we came out really strong."

Both Harlow and Gustafson are no strangers to being on the same team and have both played together since their PeeWee days. Harlow said having Gustafson on his team has helped him become a better goalie.

"If he is playing good obviously it makes me want to play just as good, just to keep the team going," he said

"We are both good friends. It's awesome, if you go down south you get guys who are like always head-to -head competition because they both want the number one spot. With me and Brad we don't have to really worry about that, so we just feed off each other."

With first place of the division on the line, Whitehorse went on to its third straight win in a game against a team from Boise, Idaho. Boise ended the team's shutout streak, but when all was said and done the Mustangs were able to secure a 4-2 win.

Glass scored twice, while Engren-Cook and Underhill netted the remaining Mustang goals.

Players on the Mustangs didn't have long to rest and later that day competed against Grande Prairie in their final game of the round robin. The final score was 4-0 in Grande Prairie's favour.

Injuries and some bad luck played a factor in Whitehorse's final game against Burnaby. Burnaby opened up the scoring in the first 10 minutes of the game and after 40 minutes took a 4-0 lead into the third period.

Despite the lofty deficit, the Mustangs weren't about to go down without a fight. The team was able to come within one goal of tying the game with just over two minutes remaining on the clock.

Unfortunately for Whitehorse, its fourth tally was called back after the referee said the net had come off. It was the second time in the contest a goal had been called back on the Mustangs.

Regardless of the loss in the quarter finals, 17-year-old Mustangs forward Tobin said he was pleased with how the team did in Richmond.

"Our last game we played we came out flying, but it took a toll on us," said Tobin. "I think physically we did OK, it was just we kind of broke down mentally. That's why we lost the game."