The Mission City Outlaws’ eight-game unbeaten streak came to a crashing thud on Saturday night.
Mission hadn’t lost since Dec. 14 before Saturday, but the Richmond Sockeyes ended the run swiftly with an 8-1 win at the Mission Leisure Centre.
Richmond jumped out to a three-goal lead by 12:38 of the second period, but Mission got on the board late in the second when Dawson Reinfjell scored on a setup from Joshua Mainhout.
The roof caved in on the Outlaws and the streak in the third period, as Richmond scored five goals, including three on the power play.
The Sockeyes’ power play went 4/10 on the night and they also outshot the Outlaws 47-17.
Mission goalie Daniel Zuvic made 39 saves in a losing cause.
The loss comes off a 4-3 win over the Surrey Knights on Jan. 23.
Mission’s Dylan Tonks opened the scoring with a power-play goal just 2:32 into the first period, but the Knights roared back with two goals to end the first period up 2-1.
Mission battled back in the second, as Kyle Sackmann and Matthew Konrad put the Outlaws up 3-2 by the midway point. However, Surrey evened the game again before the second was done.
Outlaws captain Justin Hargrave then scored the game-winning goal at 14:32 of the third period to earn Mission the win.
Zuvic stopped 31 shots for his 14th win on the season. Hargrave, Konrad and Tonks all had multi-point games.
Mission’s record now sits at 21-16-3-1, and they remain in second place in the Pacific Junior Hockey League’s Harold Brittain Conference.
The top four playoff teams have been determined for the conference, and Mission will be in the mix but the club could still finish anywhere from first to fourth. They would need to win all of their remaining games and hope that Langley doesn’t get a point to finish first.
As of press time, only four points separate fourth from second.
The Outlaws took on the Trappers on Wednesday night in Langley, but results were not available at press time. The team closes the season with home games on Saturday against Aldergrove and then on Feb. 8, when they take on Langley again.
