Week Four of the BC Hockey Major Midget League (MML) season will see the Valley West Hawks play at home for the first time.
The team, comprised of players from the Surrey, Cloverdale, Semiahmoo and Langley minor hockey associations, will host the Vancouver Canadians at the Langley Events Centre at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The two teams will play again at the Richmond Oval Sunday, where the Canadians have played four of their six games this season.
Valley West began the season with a two-game trip to Prince George against the Cariboo Cougars, then played two “home” games at the Richmond Ice Centre against the Thompson Blazers as part of the MML’s Show Weekend.
Hawks coach Jessie Leung, who has guided the team to a 2-2-0 (won-lost-tied) start in his first season as the head coach, isn’t a fan of having a bye so early in the season, noting “we’ll have two games in hand on most teams throughout the front half of the season so it will feel like we’re playing catchup until we hit the midway point.”
Valley West is in a four-way tie for sixth-place, and all five teams above them in the standings have played six games to just for four the Hawks.
The Canadians, after four games in Richmond to start the season, were in Prince George last week. Playing as the visitors for the first time this season, they split a pair of 3-2 decisions with the Cariboo Cougars to improve to 4-2-0 on the season.
After Saturday’s game in Langley, the Hawks and Canadians play a rematch Sunday morning at the Richmond Oval.