It was not pointless, but Grandview Steelers head coach Aldo Bruno would have preferred to see two on the table.
The Steelers suffered their third loss in a row Sunday, falling 2-1 in overtime to the Mission City Outlaws at the Burnaby Winter Club.
The single point bumped the team back into first place in the Pacific Junior Hockey League’s Tom Shaw Division with an 8-2-1 record.
Grandview took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period when Tim Chow counted his fifth of the season, on assists from Braeden Gurney and Jeffrey Wong.
They protected that lead successfully until 15:31 into the third period when Bryce Pisiak tied the game on a powerplay.
Mission, who sit atop the Harold Brittain Division, capped the comeback just 50 seconds into the extra frame when Kyle Lennea would bury another powerplay chance.
“We let them rally late and gave up a powerplay goal,” said Bruno.
“We were doing well and kept their top line from scoring until the end, which was good. Their goalie played well but we didn’t get create as many [scoring] chances as I’d like.”
The shots were 22 to 20 in Mission’s favour, with three of those coming in overtime.
Bruno said the effort was solid enough to end the current slide, but the club still needed to get back to a consistent level that helped catapult them to an 8-0 start to the season.
“The difference I think has been a couple of things – the guys followed the game plan in the first eight games but maybe got a little over confidence,” he noted. “You can’t look past anyone in this league. Every team is good.
“Our special teams was really going good [in the beginning] but I don’t think we scored a powerplay goal in the last three games.”
The Steelers were 0-for-6 in powerplay chances on Sunday.
With the recent loss of defenceman Quinn Lenihan to the Ontario junior A team in Trenton, the local squad has added some experience to the blueline by signing junior A veteran Brandon Volpe from Weyburn.
The Port Coquitlam native made his debut on Sunday and brings a well-rounded game to the rink.
Grandview visited second-place Delta on
Tuesday, past the New West Record deadline.
On Sunday they host the Abbotsford Pilots 4 p.m. at the BWC.
