The Sunshine Coast Midget Blues finished their tiering round schedule last weekend with a 4-2 win over Seattle at the Sunshine Coast Arena on Saturday and a 5-2 road loss Sunday against Port Moody.
The Blues are off this weekend and will find out which tier they will play in. They begin regular season action next weekend.In Saturday's win, the Blues put in a spirited effort using their speed in the first period and winning a number of puck battles to lead 3-0 after the opening frame.
The line of Brad Boyd, who scored twice, Stephan Fitchett with one goal and Justlin Lynn set up a clinic of effective passing and fore-checking.
Defenceman Jeff Schwingenschloegl scored a great short-handed breakaway goal to put the game out of reach.
The third period was a tough one for the Blues. Penalties kept the team short-handed for most of the final period and aggressive checking in the Blues end kept the visitors mostly at bay. On Sunday, the Blues headed to Planet Ice in Coquitlam for a game against Port Moody. Once again the Blues came out in a hard-hitting, aggressive fore-checking style, but they were stymied by a hot Port Moody goalie. The final score didn't really indicate the type of game it was.
Another good effort from the line of Fitchett, Boyd and Lynn resulted in another goal for them.
The Blues finished the tiering round just under .500.
Head coach Russ McLeod is happy with the team's play so far, but knows they are capable of much more.
"This part of the schedule is a chance to find out what we have, juggle the line combinations and see what works best," McLeod said prior to Saturday's home game. "This is a good bunch of guys. We have six returning from last year and we have a good mix with a few younger guys as well. We'll see where they sit and go from there."
