The Bantam Rep Blues' chances of a President's Series banner took a serious blow last weekend after suffering a pair of defeats.
The Blues now sit with a record of 1-2-1 in the race for the banner and finish the playoffs with a game in Squamish today (March 13). The Blues will have to win the game and then hope for some help from the other teams involved in the series if they hope to lay claim to this year's playoff banner.
Last Saturday the Blues dropped a 4-2 game to the New Westminster Royals at the Sunshine Coast Arena, then hit the road Sunday and lost 7-2 in Mission.
In Saturday's game, the Blues never really got on track, falling behind 1-0 less than two minutes into the game. The Blues were down 4-0 heading into the final period and managed to climb back in with a pair of goals from Coty Haikonen and Taylor Fancher, with Fancher's goal coming with 1:31 left on the clock.
The Blues pulled their goalie for the extra attacker but failed to get a quality scoring chance.
Mike Holm, Mike Leibing and Adam Cote registered assists for the Blues.
In Sunday's game in Mission, Haikonen and Fancher scored the Blues' two goals.
Goalie Ty Dempster was particularly strong in the game against Mission, making 35 saves.
Following Saturday's game, Blues' head coach Randy Younghusband said his team was not sharp.
"New West were the better team," Younghusband said. "They skated well and got some strong goaltending. We've been playing a lot better lately and it's too bad we didn't play better today. All these games are important and we had our destiny in our own hands. Now we have to win and hope for help from some other teams."
The Blues had a pretty good regular season and lost out to Seafair in the first round of the playoffs, which dropped them into the President's Series banner playoff.
"This team has come a long way since the start of the season," Younghusband added. "When they all play well and together, they are a good team. Hopefully we can rebound with a better effort against Squamish."
After the game in Squamish, the Blues are off to an international tournament during spring break next week in Maple Ridge.
The tournament will feature teams from Alberta, B.C. and the U.S.
