PORT McNEILL—Back home after a successful road trip that provided their first win of the season, the North Island Eagles peewees found found their momentum blunted by the Peninsula hockey club in a pair of weekend contests at Chilton Regional Arena.
Two goals by David Charlie were not enough Saturday as Peninsula handed the Eagles a 7-2 defeat in Saturday's exhibition game.
In Sunday's rematch, a Vancouver Island Hockey League Division 4 contest, Peninsula used a fast start and a strong goaltending effort to score a 7-1 victory.
After Peninsula jumped to a 3-0 first-period lead, Clayton Bono scored off a Carson Strang assist with 2:07 left in the period to make it 3-1.
The game then turned defensive, but a hard-luck goal midway through the second, on a turnover in their own zone after a nice save by goalie Michael McLaughlin, left the peewees down 4-1 at the ice-cleaning intermission, and Peninsula goalie Michael Waite rebuffed each of their challenges after the break.
Sawyer Ingham provided the rest of the game's scoring, posting a natural hat trick across the second and third periods, but the play on the ice was much more even than the score indicated.
In Saturday's opening game, the Eagles also hung tight until the visitors put it away with a late flurry of goals.
McLaughlin's solid play combined with timely defensive help limited Peninsula to a pair of goals in the first half. Charlie's first goal, off assists from Devin White and Josh Borg, made it 3-1 early in the third period. After Peninsula scored to restore a three-goal lead, Charlie struck again with an unassisted goal to make it 4-2 at 13:12 of the third.
Peninsula pulled away with three goals over the final 5:20.
The Eagles peewees are back home this weekend, hosting Juan de Fuca in a league game at 2:15 p.m. Saturday in Port Alice and the hosting Campbell River in an exhibition Sunday at 1:15 p.m. in Port Hardy.