The male U18 Pembina Valley Hawks had a tough weekend in dropping a pair of games to the top teams in the league.
After falling 7-2 against the Winnipeg Bruins Friday night, the Hawks were edged 5-3 by the Winnipeg Thrashers Sunday.
Four unanswered second period goals did in Pembina Valley against the Bruins, as it expanded Winnipeg’s 2-1 first period lead to 6-1 after 40 minutes.
Cole Secord’s 17th goal of the season partway through the first period was the lone marker for the Hawks, who were outshot 46-26. Brody Peters stopped 23 of 28 shots before being relieved by Koen Bleznuk, who then stopped 16 of 18 shots.
The Hawks let the game against the second-place Thrashers get away from them as they held a 3-1 lead partway through the second period before Winnipeg got one back and then put it away with three more in the final frame.
Secord had his 18th of the season with the other goals coming from Mason Leite and Logan Delicate. Peters made 37 saves as the shots were 42-26 in favour of Winnipeg.
It left the Hawks sitting in seventh place at 15-9-0-1 for 31 points, which has them five and six points behind Eastman and Southwest and just one point ahead of Parkland.
Pembina Valley has a good chance to close the gap this week with a pair of games against Eastman Wednesday and Saturday before hosting the Thrashers Sunday.
