A new calendar has reflected better days for the Grandview Steelers.
The Pacific Junior B Hockey League team collected its fifth win in the past six games to move four points ahead of Delta in the race for a Tom Shaw Conference title.
Sunday’s 2-1 overtime victory over the Mission City Outlaws saw Keito Lee tally just 52 seconds into the extra frame to give the host Steelers the win, with assists to Anthony Benevoli and Liam Cumberbirch. It was the only shot of overtime.
Grandview had opened the scoring when Jeffrey Wong converted a Jacob Siebenga set-up to make it 1-0. Mission tied it six minutes into the second period on Justin Bowman’s marker.
Lee, who joined the Steelers at the Jan. 10 deadline in a swap with Ridge Meadows, now has three goals in his four games in black and gold.
Turning aside 21 shots was Matteo Paler-Chow.
Two days earlier, the squad had kept its undefeated streak going with a 3-1 decision in Abbotsford against the Pilots.
Abbotsford opened the scoring and held the lead until 5:38 of the third when Malcolm Huemmert made it 1-1.
Ten minutes later, Huemmert and Adam Rota set up Benevoli for what proved to be the game winner. Siebenga iced it with 31 seconds left by hitting the empty net.
Grandview has been on a roll since suffering a 3-2 overtime loss on Jan. 3 to Delta, reeling off five wins and a tie. In fact, they’ve picked up at least a point in the past 10 games, stretching back before the holiday break.
The lone blemish has been the struggling powerplay, which went 0-for-10 over the weekend and, according to PJHL stats, is 0-22 since an early goal on Jan. 5. With the extra man, the Steelers have a chilly 11.59 success rate, third-worst in the league.
Grandview’s next test comes Sunday, 4 p.m. when the Aldergrove Kodiaks visit the Burnaby Winter Club.
