The score may have seemed worse than the week before, but there were more than enough encouraging signs for the Prince Rupert Seawolves Legion PeeWee rep team last Saturday when they took on the Terrace Kermode Peewees in an exhibition contest.
For starters, the squad managed to pot a pair of goals past Terrace's stalwart defence, which is two more markers than they had in their game, a 5-0 loss to the Kermodes.
"This weekend, there were some big improvements," said coach Derek Northcott.
"We had a couple breakdowns which ended up in our net and we've got to work on that but that's what practice is for."
Despite falling 10-2, the Seawolves gave their first home audience of the year quite a show.
The highlight of the day was the teams' power-play, which cashed in on two chances out of three opportunities.
First, Brad Larose pounced on a loose rebound in front of Terrace's yawning cage on the Seawolves' first power-play opportunity just over three minutes into the second period to cut Terrace's lead at that point to 3-1.
"Our defence took a shot and I picked up the rebound and did a spin-o-rama and scored," said Larose after the game.
Devin Laliberte and Jack Brevin split netminding duties during the game and both goalies made some superb saves to keep the Seawolves' momentum going.
Laliberte's glove stops and Brevin's diving efforts to stop many short-side wraparounds won applause from the pro-Rupert crowd.
Nolan Stava helped the Seawolves score their second goal of the game as he dove into a loose puck in the crease to tip it over the goal line.
Ethan Toye was the speedster through the neutral zone on more than one occasion as the forward had numerous zone entries with possession of the puck – something that was quite hard to do against a strong, imposing Kermode defence.
Nick Pirillo and Ben Northcott formed a formidable defensive pairing for the squad, while Ferrin Collins and Arlen Deschamp had a nice give-and-go play in the third period that almost resulted in a third goal from Rupert.
Collins, Larose and Deschamp were a threat most of the time they were on the ice.
"We've got a power line and another line [we can use] and we could skate up the ice, cut wide and take a shot," said Larose.
Brodie Melanson and Colby Duffus were frequently patrolling the blueline against Terrace's top weapons, including the big centreman Aaron Funk, who scored multiple times against Rupert.