PORT HARDY — For the second straight week, the North Island Eagles peewees provided the visiting Campbell River Tyees several breaks on the ice.
And just as they did in the earlier meeting, the Tyees capitalized in a 5-2 exhibition win over the Eagles Sunday at Don Cruickshank Memorial Arena.
The game was the only one played by Triport's rep teams as the league took its traditional break to set tiers and scheduling for the upcoming regular season. The full league schedule will be released this week, and details on upcoming games can be found at www.northislandgazette.com.
One week before Sunday's win, Campbell River posted a 7-4 win over the peewees in Port McNeill.
This time, holding just a 1-0 lead early in the second period, the Tyees caught their first break when Triport goalie Nyck Ruel tried to stop a pass through the crease from behind the end line and inadvertently redirected the puck into his own net for a 2-0 Campbell River advantage.
Kenton Browne got the goal back less than a minute later to bring the Eagles within 2-1, but Campbell River pushed the lead to 3-1 with a score at 15:24 of the second.
Still, the host peewees were within a pair of goals despite being whistled for the game's first four penalties and skating shorthanded for eight minutes. And things began looking up when they finally went on a 5-on-3 power play of their own midway through the third period.
But an errant pass in the Campbell River zone gave the Tyees' Jacob Hartley a shorthanded breakaway, and he slipped a shot from the low slot just past Ruel on the stick side for the backbreaking goal.
Sean Pineda answered for the Eagles, scoring with one second left in the 5-on-3 power play to make it a 4-2 game with 10:04 left.
But that was all the offence the peewees could muster, and Campbell River added an empty-net goal with 52.8 seconds left.