The Mission City Outlaws impressed at the recent Pacific Junior Hockey League’s Winter Classic event, and the club has now jumped into second place in the Harold Brittain conference.
The Outlaws opened the three-day event at Richmond’s Minoru Arena on Saturday afternoon against the White Rock Whalers, and a flurry of offence in the third period lead to a 5-3 win.
Mission’s Dylan Stoltz opened the scoring just 48 seconds into the game, and that early goal was the lone tally in the first period.
The teams traded five goals in the middle frame, with White Rock taking a 2-1 lead and then Mission holding a 3-2 lead at different points, but the period ended tied at three. Mission got goals from Dylan Devers and Matthew Konrad in the second.
The Outlaws took over in the third with Jayden Martin and Konrad securing the 5-3 win.
Konrad had an excellent game with four points, while Stoltz (three) and Martin (two) both had multi-point games.
Mission goalie Daniel Zuvic made 34 saves in the win.
Mission returned to the Richmond ice on Sunday afternoon and crushed the Port Moody Panthers 10-1.
The Outlaws skated away with the game in the second period, putting up five goals to cruise to the win.
Dylan Tonks and Owen Elson scored in the first period, with Devers (two), Tonks, Justin Hargrave and Chase Newman all recording goals in the second. Port Moody also scored its lone goal in the middle frame.
Mission’s Justin Plett, Blake Clease and Stoltz all added goals in the third.
Tonks and Plett both had five-point nights, with Devers (three), Newman (two) and Justin Mainhout (two) all having multi-point games.
The Outlaws also outshot Port Moody 31-17, with starting goalie Isaac Elias stopping 16 shots in the win.
The Winter Classic event, which ran from Jan. 3 to 5, saw all 12 PJHL teams play two games in Richmond over the three days.
Mission was one of only three teams to finish the event with a perfect 2-0 record, the others were the North Vancouver Wolf Pack and the Aldergrove Kodiaks.
Mission now sits in second place in the conference, with a record of 19-15-2-1.
Mission’s Hargrave continues to lead the team in scoring with 38 points in 36 games.
He’s 14th overall in league scoring.
Rookie Clease is second on the team with 31 points in 37 games and is one of the top first-year scorers in the PJHL.
The team next hosts the Aldergrove Kodiaks at the Mission Leisure Centre on Saturday.
Face-off is set for 6:45 p.m.
