It was fun while it lasted.
The Grandview Steelers’ seven-game win streak was busted on Thursday and is now a distant memory after the Pacific Junior B Hockey club suffered back-to-back losses at the hands of the Richmond Sockeyes.
Although both defeats were by single-goal margins, they stalled Grandview’s rise up the Tom Shaw Conference charts at 8-6-0-1, seven points back of first-place Delta.
Richmond’s Nicolas Bizzutto counted the game winner on both nights, including Sunday’s 2-1 decision at the Burnaby Winter Club. Bizzutto tallied 17:20 into the second period to break a 1-1 deadlock.
The Sockeyes never trailed, grabbing the lead 2:08 into the contest on Marcus Sihota’s marker. The Steelers’ Jeffrey Wong notched his sixth of the season, on assists from Connor Alderson and Nico Bruno, to knot the game at 1-1 early in the middle frame. Thirty-two seconds later, Bizzutto sniped the game winner.
Grandview’s Cale Dolan made 23 saves, as did winning goalie Hardarshan Hoonjan.
Three days earlier, Bizzutto notched the winner 4:35 into the third on a powerplay.
Down 2-0 after one period, the Steelers valiantly charged back with a pair of markers in the second period – Alderson with a powerplay goal midway through the frame and Bruno, tallying shorthanded, with 2:38 left in the second period.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Steelers, as they face Harold Brittain Division-leading Abbotsford on Friday before returning home to host Shaw-leading Delta on Sunday, 7:15 p.m. at the Winter Club.
