A sweep of the Vancouver Chiefs has lifted the Valley West Hawks into fourth place in the BC Hockey Major Midget League.
After a 4-1 victory Saturday in the Langley Events Centre and a 4-3 triumph Sunday afternoon in Coquitlam, the Hawks have improved to 9-5-2 (won-lost-tied), three points back of the Okanagan Rockets.
“Hard fought battles both games that were marked by good special teams play, great goaltending, and opportunistic goal scoring,” said Hawks head coach Jessie Leung.
Valley West got an early start to Saturday’s game. The Hawks opened the scoring 11 minutes into the game and led the rest of the way. James Malm assisted on a first-period goal from Langley’s Christian Bosa, then scored himself to make it 2-0 late in the second. Justin De Vos of Surrey found the net with one second left in the second period for a 3-0 Valley West advantage.
The Chiefs got on the scoreboard five minutes into the third, then surrendered an empty net goal to Langley’s Malm with 52 seconds left to play.
Nic Tallarico of Surrey was the winning goalie, making 31 saves.
Sunday in Coquitlam, the Hawks had to come from behind to earn the two points, as the Chiefs were up 2-0 12 minutes into the game. Semiahmoo’s Jeffrey Stewart got the Hawks on the scoresheet two minutes before the first intermission, but Vancouver replied a minute into the second period for a 3-1 lead.