The Valley West Hawks won one of two B.C. Hockey Major Midget League (MML) games in Kelowna last weekend, moving into a tie for fifth place.
The Hawks doubled the Okanagan Rockets 4-2 Saturday afternoon, then dropped a 7-4 decision in the rematch Sunday morning.
Valley West, comprised of players from the Semiahmoo, Cloverdale, Surrey and Langley minor hockey associations, now has a 14-10-0 (won-loss-tied) record, tied with the 12-8-4 Greater Vancouver Canadians and four points up on the seventh place North Island Silvertips. The top six teams will make the playoffs.
The Hawks were 21 minutes away from a sweep of Okanagan, taking a 4-2 lead into the final minute of the second period Sunday.
The Rockets scored with just five seconds to play in the period, then tie the contest 15 seconds into the third. They notched the winner with eight minutes to play, adding two insurance goals before the game was over.
Daniell Lange scored twice for Valley West, with Latrell Charleson of Surrey and Langley’s Jacob Taylor adding singles. Surrey’s Ram Brar collected a pair of assists.
The Hawks were down 2-0 before Saturday’s game was 10 minutes old, but came back to tie the contest 2-2 after 20 minutes on goals by Langley forwards Danton Heinen and Lange.
Brar scored the winning goal 16 minutes into the second period, and Kyle Raymond of Langley added an empty net tally with 69 seconds to play.
The Hawks will be in Calgary Dec. 26 to Jan. 1 for the Mac’s Tournament. They are grouped with with St. Albert Raiders, Calgary Royals, Saskatoon Contacts and MML rival Vancouver Chiefs for round robin play.