It was a tale of two teams last weekend as the Campbell River Midget Tyees were back on home ice for a pair of games.
The weekend kicked off Saturday afternoon as the Peninsula Eagles made the trip north.
The Eagles coaching staff clearly picked the right time for a players only bus trip.
From the start of the game the visiting team looked focused and ready to play.
The Tyees faced a hardworking, disciplined team that clearly had one goal in mind – win.
The home squad fought hard and had some good chances, but couldn’t beat the Peninsula goalkeeper.
The Eagles boarded their bus and headed home with a 4-0 victory.
Sunday’s contest saw the Juan de Fuca Grizzlies challenge the home town Tyees.
The first periods of the two games could not have been more contrasting.
The Tyees had their collective feet on the gas pedal and right from the first shift, the home squad was skating hard and controlling the play.
The Grizzlies found themselves pinned in their own end for long periods of time, as the Tyees forecheck was working well.
The Tyees jumped out to the lead with a wrister from the stick of Lucas Lund, assisted by Braydon Kratzmann. Kaleb Beattie doubled the lead 45 seconds later on a nice feed from Sage Lim.
The home squad continued to press, causing the Juan de Fuca boys to take a number of penalties. Jacob Hartley netted two powerplay goals near the end of the first period, with assists going to Beattie and Lim.
Tyee Owen Boyd got into the action in the second period, as he tucked home a pass from Lim and Tyler Dickson.
The ice clean seemed to allow the Grizzlies to hit the reset button, as they were a different team in the second half. The Grizzlies found their skating legs and closed the gap to one with five minutes remaining in the game.
The final few minutes saw frantic action and a huge penalty kill for the Tyees in the dying seconds to preserve the Tyees lead. Tyee goaltender Carson Borgfjord was well deserving of the 5-4 win.
“This weekend was a tale of two different teams, today, we worked hard on the forecheck, got the puck deep and didn’t take any shifts off, that’s exactly what we were lacking in yesterday’s game,” said Head Coach Brent Cross following Sunday’s game.
