Proving to be consistently inconsistent, the North Delta Devils once again split a pair of Pacific International Junior Hockey League games last weekend.
The Junior B team handled the Grandview Steelers 5-2 Saturday night at the Sungod Arena, just 24 hours after losing 5-4 to the Ridge Meadows Flames, a team which had won just three of their previous 16 games.
The Devils did almost everything right Friday night in Maple Ridge, outshooting the Flames 48-23 and scoring four powerplay goals on seven chances, but they were playing catchup all night.
The Devils fired 20 pucks at the Flames goal in the opening period, but Ridge Meadows scored once on their six shots for a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. The Flames were held to just nine shots in the second period, but found the net three more times for a 4-2 advantage.
Darren Asuncion and Christian Rodriguez with his second of the game connected on the powerplay, pulling the visitors even 4-4. But the Devils couldn’t hang on. The Flames got the winning goal on a powerplay with 98 seconds to play.
Michal Urbaniak scored North Delta’s first goal, and Julius Ho collected three assists.
In the Sungod Arena Saturday, the Devils were in control for much of the game. Outshot 16-11 in the first period, the Devils still led 1-0 on a goal from Gregory Howard.
The home team took over in the second, outshooting Grandview 17-4. Jacob Wensley made it 2-0 for North Delta, and after the Steelers tallied twice to tie the game, the Devils went up 5-2 after 40 minutes withy Robert Lacis, Ho and Adam Nishi scoring.
North Delta pulled into a tie with the Steelers for third place in the Tom Shaw Conference, with the Devils having played two fewer games with a 7-7-3 (won-lost-overtime loss) record.
Two games on the road close out November’s schedule for the Devils, who are in North Vancouver Wednesday night to play the last place Wolf Pack, then visit the Port Moody Black Panthers Saturday.
