The winter blahs are a real thing -- just ask the Grandview Steelers.
The junior B hockey club has hit a wall in the month of January in its pursuit of wins, dropping it's past three games.
After starting the new year with a pair of victories, the fourth-place Steelers entered a busy stretch where they earned just a pair of ties to show for five games over the past three weeks.
Sunday's 4-0 loss to Delta was the most recent setback. Although the shots were fairly close, 26-22 in favour of the Icehawks, it was a rough patch in the third period that turned the game for Delta.
Delta's Daniel Rubin scored his first of three straight at 1:36 into the third, and added his second goal nearly 10 minutes later. The Icehawks fired 11 shots at starter Cale Dolan in the third frame, while Grandview mustered just five.
It was the second time the two teams met over five days, with the Icehawks prevailing 5-2 on Jan. 15 in Ladner. The Steelers tried to chase their division rivals down, with goals by Mateo Toledo and Mateo Coltellaro, but were unable to sustain the pressure.
Sandwiched between those two losses was a 3-1 setback to the North Van Wolfpack.
It doesn't help that both Delta and North Van are the hottest teams in the Pacific Junior B Hockey League, virtual locks to finish one-two in league standings.
Grandview grabbed a 1-0 lead on Connor Alderson's sixth goal of the season. The New Westminster native buried it past North Van's Spencer Eschyeschny five minutes into the second period. The score stayed like that until the 'Packs' Lucas Barker scored his first of two, midway through the third. Dolan was the team's standout, facing 40 shots to keep Grandview in the game.
Tonight (Friday) the 21-16-2 Steelers visit Abbotsford. They look for a better result on Sunday, when they host the Pilots in the second game of a back-to-back, 7:15 p.m. at the Burnaby Winter Club.
