On Saturday the Peewee A Blues faced Vancouver.
A hard-fought first period saw the score tied at 0-0.
The Blues decided to watch the rest of the game, however, and ended up on the wrong end of a 6-0 score.
Goalie Scott Legault faced countless Vancouver opportunities, and the Blues inability to provide defensive coverage allowed the visitors to have their way with the home team. Perhaps the only bright light of the game was the return of forward Mike Brackett after nursing a fractured foot through the first part of the season.
After a thorough post-game discussion and an extra hour of sleep, the Blues caught the first ferry on Sunday to play in Port Moody. Sunday's game saw the Blues play a completely different game from start to finish. The Blues opened the scoring on a well-orchestrated face-off that led to a goal that was credited to Graydon Benner but in fact bounced in off Mike's shin from Graydon's point shot. Later in the first, the Blues thought they had another one, but it was blown dead before the referee had a chance to see it go in. Not to be outdone, Blues' goalie Ross Lanskail apparently pulled one back across the line on a scramble at the side of the net, much to the dismay of the home crowd.
In the second period, the Blues continued the scoring with an unassisted goal, this time off Mike's stick while he was well positioned in front of the net. The Blues' next two goals came from Jack Parker on a scramble in front, with the helper going to Connor Cross. That goal was followed by Jack's hard wrist shot from the high slot that was unassisted, to make the score 4-1 after two periods.
The Blues' last two goals of the game were compliments of Kyle Horsman. His first goal came from a shot on the power play right along the ice. Josh Macey provided the assist. Kyle showed great individual effort on his second goal, when he picked up the puck at the blueline and sped through the neutral zone, virtually untouched, before crossing the offensive blueline and depositing the puck in the net.
In the third, Port Moody got one back and had a golden opportunity to make a game out of it when they went in alone on a breakaway. But Ross was up to the challenge and speared the shot with his glove as it headed for the top corner. The Blues won the game 6-2.
Jamel Paul played an exceptional game, showing gritty determination doing all the little things right and was awarded the man-of-the-match hat for his efforts.
"I felt the play was kept in the offensive zone for close to 75 per cent of the game," said coach Brent Parker. "The rest of the time was spent battling in the neutral zone or in our end. As a team we played our best game of the year so far, and individually everyone had a strong game. All the boys skated hard for three full periods and never really gave Port Moody much of a chance to get into the game. They played off each other well, made some nice passes and hustled back really well defensively."
Midget BluesThe Sunshine Coast Midget Blues pushed their tiering round record to 5-0 last weekend.
On Saturday, the Blues edged Semiahmoo 4-3 and smoked Mission 8-0 on the road on Sunday.
On Saturday the Blues got off to a slow start, falling behind 2-0 in the first period. Fortunately they were able to turn things around in the second period with goals from Drew Quarry, Danny Baker and Taylor Fancher.
In the third period, Coty Haikonen scored what would be the winning goal. Alternate players Justin Brown and James Pomfret put in strong performances and both showed a lot of hustle, almost scoring on Semiahmoo's empty net when they pulled their goalie for an extra attacker to try to tie the game.
On Sunday the Blues could do no wrong as they faced a weaker Mission team. Veteran defencemen Matt Yarrow and Dave Moran put in strong performances when they were moved to forward position to fill in for injured forward players. Goaltenders Sean Blake and Dylan Hanna played with focus and were able to stop all scoring attempts by Mission. Vince Percy and Spencer Williams each had a pair of goals, while Matt Yarrow, Dan Martin, Dustin Christmas and Danny each had singles.
The Blues face Langley tomorrow (Saturday) at home at 5:15 p.m. and look forward to extending their streak.
