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Giants tested by Valley West

Hawks lose, tie Vancouver Giants, the defending provincial champions.
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Vancouver Giants defenceman Connor Pasco crashes into forward Mitch Newsome of the Valley West Hawks during a BC Hockey Major Midget League game at the Surrey Sports and Leisure Centre Sunday. The two teams tied 3-3 Saturday in Burnaby

There were some moral victories in a winless weekend for the Valley West Hawks.

While the BC Hockey Major Midget League team wasn’t able to get a victory over the Vancouver Giants, they did manage to become the first team in the league to take a point from the four-time defending provincial champions.

The Giants went into the two-game series last weekend with six wins in as many games, outscoring the opposition 27-14.

Valley West gave the Giants all they could handle, playing to a 3-3 tie Saturday night before losing a close 3-2 decision Sunday.

The Hawks erased a 3-1 deficit after 40 minutes to get the single point Saturday at the Burnaby Winter club. Trailing 2-0 after one period, Cloverdale’s Jakob Stukel netted the first Valley West goal midway through the second period.

The Giants restored the two-goal advantage before the period was over, but Stukel scored his second of the game with eight minutes to play then Darien Craighead of Surrey scored the tying goal on a power play with a little less than two minutes to go. Rhett Wilcox of Surrey had a pair of assists for the Hawks.

In the rematch Sunday afternoon at the Surrey Sports and Leisure Complex, the two rivals were tied 1-1 after 20 minutes with Josh Pollock of White Rock netting the Hawks goal while shorthanded. A pair of power play goals in the second period allowed the Giants to take a 3-1 lead into the third frame.

Jake Fletcher of Surrey got one back for Valley West on the power play with 14 minutes still to play.

The Hawks fell to 5-4-1 (won-lost-tied), and dropped to fifth place in the 11-team league, two points back of the Vancouver Chiefs. Valley West will play twice against the Vancouver Canadians next weekend, facing off Saturday evening in Richmond and Sunday at 10:45 a.m. in the Langley Events Centre.