It's one hurdle after another for the senior A New Westminster Salmonbellies.
After putting last week's back-to-back losses behind them with an inspired 14-12 win in overtime at home over the previously unbeaten Victoria Shamrocks on Thursday, New West was down again Sunday after a 10-8 loss in Nanaimo.
The loss was the Salmonbellies' fourth in five starts.
But rather than suggest a precipitous slump for the defending regular season champions, it points a finger at just how unpredictable the WLA schedule is to call these days.
A case in point, Maple Ridge's 9-5 victory over the Burnaby Lakers on Sunday, and a week ago Coquitlam, which started the season at 1-4, earned a one-point win over Langley.
It appears that with little more than half the schedule still left to play, and just three points separating first place from sixth, no team is safe.
"It's a competitive league, anybody can be had on any night," said Burnaby's head coach Bob Johnston after Sunday's loss in Maple Ridge. "If you're there at the end, you can win."
New Westminster was in that position at Queen's Park Arena on Thursday despite a see-sawing scoreline against the Shamrocks.
The 'Bellies held a 5-3 lead after the opening period of play but saw that advantage vanish in a blink of an eye early in the second before a late rally put them back on top.
Sean Robinson and Curtis Hodgson, with an unassisted power-play goal off a turnover, scored two minutes apart midway through the final frame to give New West a 10-7 lead.
But even a three-goal was not safe as Kory Kowalyk scored on the power play to send the game into extra time.
In overtime, Kevin Crowley gave the home club the lead on two separate occasions before Ilija Gajic finally tallied the game-winner with his third of the game in the final minute of OT.
"We knew it wasn't an Xs and Os thing. It was a kind of lack of intensity thing," said New West's Tyler Crompton, whose gametying goal off a turnover in the Victoria zone midway through the second period was a turning point in the match.
"We're starting to turn it around. But we have to play a little smarter and more composed. - We had something to prove, I guess," said Crompton after Thursday's win.
But Sunday's outcome stressed just how difficult this season will likely be and not just for the 4-4 Salmonbellies.
New West overcame a 3-1 first-period deficit in Nanaimo and was leading 7-5 after a six-goal middle frame before getting a rude awakening in the first half of the third.
Cory Conway, Cody Bremner, with two goals, and Cayle Ratcliff, with the eventual game-winner, scored in the opening 10 minutes of the period.
Conway had a monster 10-point outing for the Timbermen, scoring a hat trick while assisting on the rest of the Nanaimo goals.
Zach Boychuk came up with 44 stops to post the win for Nanaimo, while Tyler Richards stopped 36 T-Men shots in the 'Bellies cage.
Martin Cummings and Alex Gajic both scored two goals for the Salmonbellies in the loss.
New Westminster, 15-11 losers to the Burnaby Lakers in Burnaby three weeks ago, will be hosting the Lakers team that started the Salmonbelies' current downward slide on Thursday.
Game time is 7: 45 p.m. at Queen's Park Arena.
The following day, the Salmonbellies will be in Victoria against the Shamrocks.
