Their six-game win streak is kaput.
But the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs are hungry to start a new winning run on the heels of a sobering loss and tie.
Despite a 5-2 setback Saturday suffered at the hands of the 10th-place Valley West Giants, the local Chiefs still have a toehold on second place in the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League standings, tied with the Okanagan Rockets with a 9-4-2-1 record.
Head coach Jeff Urekar said the recent run was a sign of how hard the players have worked.
“I think it’s related to two things, really,” said Urekar, in his first full season as team head coach. “We’ve gotten healthier and got all our players in the lineup (the past three weeks). It’s also attributed to all the work the players have put in over the past few months.”
In the six-game surge – which was part of a seven-wins-in-eight-games stretch – the squad took on all comers, including handing first place Fraser Valley their first two losses of the season. They outscored the opposition 34-13 in that span.
They struggled against a lower ranked team on Saturday, surrendering two goals in the second period after sitting tied 1-1 after 20 minutes. Logan Kurki, of Maple Ridge, tallied twice for the Northeast squad, which draws its players from Burnaby, New West, the Tri-Cities and Ridge Meadows.
A day later, netminder Michael Harroch helped the squad pull out a 2-2 tie against the Giants, with Port Moody’s Christian Lowe and Ryan Tattle supplying the offence.
Tattle has begun to connect with his linemates, recording five goals over his past five games.
“He’s making the adjustment as a first-year player at 17,” said the coach. “He spent the first couple of weeks trying to find some consistency and getting use to the physicality of the league. The work’s paying off.”
A key to the club’s recent string has been the balanced attack and stellar netminding, noted Urekar.
“We’ve got eight players who are at a point-a-game pace, and our goaltending has been just as strong as we thought it would, with both guys (Harroch and Burnaby’s Logan Turness) as second-year players.”
Although none are among the league’s top-10 scorers, the squad has gotten plenty of offence from each line, led by Coquitlam’s Quinton Hill, with eight goals and 13 assists in 16 games.
The Chiefs are motivated to stay within striking distance of first-place Fraser Valley, who lead by two points. The top-five teams in the league are only separated by five points.
“We’ve kind of set a first-half goal of qualifying for the (Calgary) Mac’s Invitational tournament, which means we have to finish top-four,” said Urekar. “We pride ourselves in starting strong and we emphasize the importance of practicing hard.”
The squad plays host to the Kootenay Ice this weekend, on Saturday (4:30 p.m.) and Sunday (11:30 a.m.) at Burnaby 8-Rinks.
