The Langley Chiefs are now looking up at the Surrey Eagles.
For much of the season, the Chiefs have found themselves perched in second place in the BCHL's Coastal Conference. The reward for finishing among the top two in the junior A hockey conference, is a playoff bye through to the second round.
But a 3-1 loss to Surrey on Sunday afternoon at South Surrey Arena allowed the Eagles to leapfrog the Chiefs for second spot. Surrey has also played four fewer games.
The Eagles have 61 points and a dozen games remaining, while Langley has 60 points with eight games left.
Victoria (55 points, 11 games left) and Nanaimo (54 points, 10 games remaining) are also on the Chiefs' tail.
And for the Chiefs, who have just one win in their past six games, to have any hopes of reclaiming second spot — or from falling any further down the standings — the team needs to take care of business this week.
Langley faces Coquitlam in a home-and-home series against the Express, Thursday (Jan. 27) in Langley and the next night at the Coquitlam Sports Centre.
They then face the Cowichan Valley Capitals on Saturday back in Langley.
Those two opponents currently sit in the bottom two spots in the conference.
Eagles 3 Chiefs 1
In Sunday's defeat, Brad McGowan, the league's leading scorer, tallied twice and Dale Hunt had the other goal for Surrey, while Tim Daly had the lone Langley marker, which came with eight and a half minutes remaining and the Chiefs trailing 3-0.
Surrey scored two of their goals with the man advantage.
Chiefs 5 Warriors 3
The loss came on the heels of a 5-3 victory Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre over the Westside Warriors.
Brad McBride and Trevor Gerling scored twice apiece and Kit Sitterley had the other Langley goal, while Huggins made 26 saves for the win.
Dru Morrison, Grayson Downing and Tyler Brickler scored for the Warriors.