It could be a bit of a roller coaster season for Burnaby’s junior B men’s hockey team.
At the end of the exhibition season, Grandview Steelers head coach Aldo Bruno predicted his Burnaby Winter Club-based Steelers would be in for a competitive season – with two games under the team’s belt, that prediction is already proving true.
In the first game of the Tom Shaw conference regular season Sept. 11, the Steelers fell to the Richmond Sockeyes at Richmond Arena, a demoralizing 1-6.
Steelers’ forward Timothy Chow got the lone goal as the team’s jitters got the best of them.
“The nerves of all the young guys was just too much for them,” said Bruno, adding there are 14 new faces in the lineup this year.
“We just got outplayed.”
It was a complete 180-degree difference in play in the Steelers’ home opener when the team took on the Port Moody Panthers Sept. 14.
The Steelers beat the Panthers 3-2 in a double overtime nail biter.
“I thought we played a much better game, for sure. The guys were a little more focused and all the nerves were out of them for having played one game of the season already,” Bruno said.
The first two goals were thanks to 20-year-old veteran forward Jordan Hall and 16-year-old rookie, and Burnaby boy, Nico Bruno.
Goaltender Cole MacInnes was solid in net and rookie, 17-year-old defenceman Alexander Rasovic scored the hero-goal with a wrist shot from the low slot close to the end of the second overtime.
Looking forward, coach Bruno said he hopes to see more of the same from his green team.
“We need to come out strong again and play at a good pace and force them to make mistakes,” he said.
The Steelers next take on the Mission City Outlaws at the Mission Leisure Centre Saturday Sept. 20.
The puck drops at 6:45 p.m.
