It was back to work for the B.C. Hockey Northwest Giants major midget hockey team.
The first-place major midget club failed to place at the recent Mac's AAA midget hockey tournament in Calgary over the Christmas holidays but found the winning touch following the resumption of league play last weekend.
The Giants got off to a roaring start on Friday with a 13-0 win over the South Island Thunderbirds in a makeup game at the Burnaby Winter Club.
With no Giants player in the top 10 in league scoring and just Eric Margo and Burnaby's Adam Helewka in the top 15, team head coach Todd Harkins said every one of his players has got to concentrate on doing more outside their comfort zone.
"We're trying to improve as a group," Harkins said. "The players who are scoring need to show a bit more grit, while the gritty players need to provide more scoring," he said.
With that in mind, 11 separate Giants players shared in the scoring in the onesided victory over the T-Birds, while all but two of the team's 17 skaters picked up at least a point. Anthony Conti and Helewka led the way with two goals and three assists apiece.
The Giants also picked up three of a maximum four points from the Northeast Chiefs in the team's weekend series to lead off the second half of the schedule.
The only hiccup in the two-game series was a poor effort in the team's defensive zone in the final minute of the game Sunday.
In the opening game of the series at the winter club, the Giants nipped the Chiefs 2-1 on Justin White's game-winner early in the second period.
The Chiefs opened the scoring midway through the opening stanza, but Cole Todd tied the game 1-1 with an unassisted marker later in the period.
But in the second game the Giants could not get the puck out of their own zone and paid the price on a late goal by the Chiefs' overall league scoring leader, Adam Rockwood, with his second counter of the game with just 16 seconds left in the game.
Jarid Lukosevicius opened the scoring for the home Giants, while Margo tallied the go-ahead goal in the third period with his ninth tally of the year.
The five-point weekend moved the Giants six points ahead of the Cariboo Cougars, who slipped into second place with a win and a tie with the Valley West Hawks. The Chiefs fell to third place a point behind with 33 points.
At the halfway point in the season, Harkins said the pressure is on the teams chasing his Giants.
"I'll take the lead anytime," he said. "When it comes down to crunch time, the pressure is on the teams chasing us. . The pressure becomes greater as the season moves on."
The Giants take on the Thompson Blazers at a B.C. League showcase at Planet Ice in Coquitlam this weekend.
The Giants play at 3 p.m. on Saturday and at 2: 45 p.m. Sunday.
