A chance to move into second place has slipped past the Valley West Hawks.
The BC Hockey Major Midget League team moved to within a point of the Vancouver Giants after winning one of two games on the road against the Thompson Blazers.
But the one loss was a 2-1 setback Saturday afternoon in Kamloops against a Blazers team that had gone winless in their first 12 games of the season. Thompson scored once in each of the first two periods, and hung on for their first victory after defenceman Jamieson Ree of Surrey scored the lone Hawks goal with seven minutes to play.
Valley West never trailed in Sunday’s victory in Logan Lake, although a two-goal lead slipped away. Eric Callegari of Langley opened the scoring 11 minutes into the game, then assisted on a goal from Surrey’s Justin Wilde which made it 2-0.
A minute later, the Blazers got on the scoreboard then tied the score 2-2 with their second goal of the game in the last minute of the first period.
Spencer Gerth of Langley and White Rock’s and Ty Westgard netted goals in the second period. The Blazers got one back in the third, but fell a goal short.
Callegari with one assist and Jordan Funk with a pair each had two-point games.
The Hawks are 10-6 (won-lost) on the season, and will look to defend their third-place standing next weekend against the Vancouver Chiefs, who are three points behind Valley West with two games in hand. The two teams face-off Saturday morning at 10:15 a.m. at the Langley Events Centre, and again Sunday at 11:45 a.m. at Planet Ice in Coquitlam.
