The defence has been doing its part, but the offence found a groove that it liked last week, giving the Vancouver North East Chiefs a pair of wins over a previously unbeaten rival.
The Chiefs handed the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds losses of 4-3 and 9-2 on the weekend, propelling themselves into a tie for second place in the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League.
Most impressive was, not just putting nine goals on the board in Saturday’s decision at Burnaby 8-Rinks, where the Chiefs call home, but was the next day’s one-goal decision in Abbotsford.
Justin Scott’s marker, with five minutes remaining in the second period, proved the be the difference in a tightly played contest. The defence blanked the T-birds over the final 20 minutes to lockdown the victory.
Vancouver, which draws its players from east Burnaby, New Westminster, the Tri-Cities and Ridge Meadows, took a 2-0 lead on tallies from Cody Hough and Nic Roussel before the T-birds got on the scoreboard 2:11 into the second period.
The home team tied it five minutes later, but the Chiefs reclaimed the lead with 6:22 to play in the period on a Sam Schofield marker, assisted by New West’s Dante Ballarin.
The previous night in Burnaby, Christian Lowe of Port Moody converted a Ballarin set-up with 2:45 left in the first to open the scoring with his first of two goals.
Ballarin also tallied twice as the Chiefs staked themselves to a 5-1 lead after 40 minutes. Also scoring for the home squad were Burnaby’s Jackson Murphy-Johnson, Dylan Ford, Hough, Roussel and Schofield.
Although they are listed as fourth overall in the standings, with a 5-3-1-1 record, the Chiefs have 12 points, the same as second-place T-birds and Okanagan Rockets, and lead the league in goals against with a 2.8-per-game average.
They get to test their mettle this weekend with a series against the first-place North West Hawks, Saturday at the North Shore Winter Club, and Sunday, 11:30 a.m. at Burnaby’s 8-Rinks.
