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Western Canada Cup extremely tight through 2 games

May 2, 2017 | 12:56 AM

As expected, the Western Canada Cup is tight halfway through the round robin.

At the top of the standings is the Alberta champion Brooks Bandits, who have two victories, 5-2 over Chilliwack and 4-3 in a shootout over Penticton. They have five points in the standings because three points are handed out for a regulation win and two for an overtime or shootout win.

The competition has been so close that three teams are tied for second with three points each.

The Chilliwack Chiefs, Portage Terriers and Penticton Vees are all 1-1, but the results have been slightly different for one of them.

For the Chiefs and Terriers, they each have one regulation win and one regulation loss. Chilliwack beat Portage head-to-head on Monday night 2-1 and lost to Brooks 5-2 on Saturday, while Portage beat Battlefords 5-3 on Sunday before their loss to Chilliwack the following night.

But the Vees have three points due to one overtime win, 2-1 over the North Stars, and one shootout loss, 4-3 to Brooks.

The North Stars are in last place right now, but they aren’t that far behind and there are still two round robin games remaining. They have a single point right now after the overtime loss to Penticton on Saturday night followed by the 5-3 loss to Portage.

The goal totals so far have also reflected how tight things are, as can be seen below.

Three of the five games played have been one-goal games and another was a two-goal game because of an empty netter.

On Tuesday, the North Stars take on the Brooks Bandits in the afternoon at 3 p.m. Saskatchewan time and then in the evening the B.C. teams renew their rivalry as Chilliwack and Penticton go head-to-head for the 10th time this season, as they went seven games in the league finals, which Penticton won in overtime 1-0.

Battlefords final round robin game will be against Chilliwack on Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m.

 

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

@NathanKanter11