The Squamish Bantam Rep Eagles are winning their way through regular season.
The team is at two wins and one loss despite moving into a higher tiering round of more competitive hockey this year.
The Eagles have also been playing clean hockey.
"They're doing a fantastic job at keeping penalty minutes down," said Ron Sander, the team manager.
A win is worth two points, but if a Bantam Rep team keeps the penalty minutes under 18, it gets an extra point. In the first three games of regular season, the Eagles have pulled in the extra point for sportsmanlike play.
"That takes an amazing amount of control," Sander said.
On Nov. 20, the Eagles beat Semiahmoo 3-1.
"The first goal was a penalty killing effort by Konrad," Sander said. Left-winger Konrad Sander had the short-handed goal against the Semiahmoo goalie.
The left winger has 50 points, the highest number of points on the team. He has 23 goals, just behind centre Hunter Nelson, who has 24 goals.
The second goal was a pass from left wing Braeden Chapman to right winger Kyle Marquette, who sunk the puck for his 13th goal of the season.
For the third goal, Konrad Sander sent the puck to Keegan Moore, who scored the game winning point.
"They're a very fast team," Sander said. "Their work ethic can definitely deliver results.
"When they're skating and passing, they're a difficult team to beat."
Unfortunately, the team had a disappointing 3-1 loss in an away game against Mission Nov. 21.
"I think the batteries ran out," Sander said. 'They played a lot of hockey over the last week.""Mission is a tough team. They played us hard."
Left-winger Carey Cunneyworth scored the only Eagles goal of the game.
"Carey Cunneyworth scored a goal as a result of tenacious hard work," Sander said.
Upcoming games will be a challenge for the team.
"As we've moved up a tier, we expect all these games to be hard fought," Sander said. "We expect to be significantly challenged next Thursday when we play North Shore Winter Club."
But the Bantam Rep Eagles have a good fitness level as a group, which gives them an edge, Sander said.
And the team has solidified during the tiering rounds.
"I think they've really become more consistent," Sander said.
They still have to work on their skating and passing game, and being unselfish with the puck, he added.
As for the rest of the season?
"We expect to win. I think the boys expect it from themselves," Sander said. "We would really like to get back to the provincials."
The next home game is against a Bantam A team from New Westminster on Saturday (Nov. 27) at 8:35 p.m. at Brennan Park.
