Pummeled by the league-leaders on Saturday night, the Valley West Hawks rebounded by knocking the Vancouver Giants out of top spot Sunday afternoon.
The Giants, tied with the Okanagan Rockets for first place in the BC Hockey Major Midget League before their two-game set with the Hawks, trounced Valley West 9-1 in Burnaby Saturday. But the Hawks handed the Giants just their fifth loss of the season the next day at the Langley Events Centre, scoring three unanswered third period goals for a 6-4 victory.
Okanagan, which won twice on the weekend, takes over sole possession of first place with a 25-4-1 (won-lost-tied) mark, following by the Giants at 24-5-1. The Hawks are in third at 20-11-1, three points up on the 17-11-4 Vancouver Chiefs.
The Giants led Saturday’s game 2-0 after just seven minutes of play before Jesse Lansdell of Langley score what would be the only goal of the game for Valley West, with an assist going to Cloverdale’s Jordan Funk.
Vancouver would extend their lead to 3-1 after 20 minutes, and 4-1 after two periods before scoring five times in the third period.
They picked up where they left of Sunday in Langley, scored three times in a span of seven minutes for a 3-0 lead by the first intermission.
Valley West regrouped, and outscored the Giants 3-1 in the second frame. Surrey forward Matt Bradley scored twice, once on the powerplay and again when shorthanded, and also assisted on an even-strength tally from Davis Koch of White Rock. Koch also assisted on Bradley’s two goals.
In the final period, Funk tied the game two minutes in, Langley’s Eric Callegari notched the winning with 10 minutes to play, then Surrey defenceman Paul Savage scored an insurance goal with five minutes left on the clock. Bradley added another two assists to his total, finishing the game with five points. Koch had one helper in the third period, finishing with a goal and three assists.
Valley West will play twice against the ninth-place Fraser Valley Thunderbirds next weekend, facing off in Abbotsford Saturday afternoon before a home game at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the Langley Events Centre.
