Oh to be a fly on the wall in the dressing room of the Northwest Giants major midget hockey team.
The Giants, who lost a share of first place in the B.C. league last weekend after squandering a 3-0 first-period lead to the Valley West Hawks, got themselves out of a similar situation before sweeping the Northeast Chiefs in a weekend series this week.
“I just asked the boys, ‘Ask yourselves if you have fully committed to the program.’ They said no,” said Thornton, who was proud of the way the Giants responded and in particular the play of the second line Quinn Benjafield, Owen Stout and Nash Dabb. “I believed with the guys that we have, we’d be able to do it.”
The Burnaby-based Giants fell behind 5-1 after the opening period in Coquitlam before clawing back with an 8-5 victory on Saturday.
The Giants then followed up that 7-0 turnaround with an emphatic 8-1 win over the Chiefs at the Burnaby Winter Club on Sunday morning.
On Saturday, Benjafield, who had a team-high five goals the week before, got the Giants' rally going in the opening minute of the middle frame.
But it was an unanswered five-goal final frame that gave the Giants the win.
Jack Tadey started things off with just his third goal this season, before 6-3 Keegan Jones potted his eighth of the year to tie the contest 5-5 midway through the third.
Quinn Thompson, with his second goal of the game, got the eventual game-winner three minutes later from Ty Shultz and Colton Kerfoot. Shultz finished the game with three helpers.
Tak Anholt led all Giants with two goals and a single helper. Nash Dabb scored his 10th of the season into an empty net.
The Giants carried over their inspired play into Sunday, outscoring the fourth-place Chiefs 15-1 in the last five periods played between the two teams.
Kerfoot and Benjafield both scored a pair of goals in three-point outings for the Giants. Justin Szeto chipped in with a goal and two helpers. Stout and Dabb both chipped in with a goal and an assist.
The Okanagan Rockets had little difficulty knocking off the South Island Royals to remain two points up on the second-place Giants.
With just three weeks left in the season, the Giants and Rockets meet this weekend for a two-game series at the winter club, which might well decide the regular season champion.
“Definitely, we wanted to go in on a positive note and with the ability to get the jobe done,” said Thornton.
Game 1 will be played Saturday at 7:45 p.m., with the second game scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Sunday.
